Thursday, December 20, 2018
Coming Events: A Year of Southern Astronomy for 2019
The table below shows significant astronomical events that can be seen with the unaided eye or minimal equipment in 2019 in Australia (and to some degree elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, ocultations and eclipses are very region specific).
Close pairings of the Moon and bright planets are given special attention as not only is the Moon a ready guide to locating the planets if you are not familiar with them, these massings are rather beautiful.
Special events are bolded.
Sadly, the partial solar eclipse is just visible from parts of northern Australia, and the partial lunar eclipse is somewhat sad, but we have three occultations of Saturn and a number of beautiful planetary events to keep us occupied. The asteroid Vesta should be (just) visible to the unaided eye too.
| Date | Event |
| 2 January 2019 | Venus close to crescent Moon in morning |
| 3-4 January 2019 | Crescent Moon and Jupiter close |
| 4 January 2019 | Crescent Moon near Mercury |
| 12-13 January 2019 | waxing Moon and Mars close |
| 14 January 2019 | Mercury a bit over a finger-width from Saturn low in the morning twilight |
| 21 January 2019 | Perigee Full Moon ("super" Moon, strictly at its biggest on the morning of the 22nd) |
| 23 January 2019 | Venus and Jupiter close in the morning |
| 31 January 2019 | Crescent Moon and Jupiter close again |
| 1 February 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky |
| 2-3 February 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Saturn in the morning |
| 10 February 2019 | Waxing Moon close to Mars |
| 12-13 February 2019 | Uranus close to Mars (binocular viewing) |
| 20 February 2019 | Perigee Full Moon ("super" Moon, strictly at its biggest on the evening of the 19th) |
| 28 February 2019 | Waning Moon close to Jupiter |
| 2 March 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Saturn in the morning |
| 3 March 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky |
| 11 March 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Mars |
| 30 March 2019 | Waning Moon close to Saturn |
| 2-3 April 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky |
| 3 April 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Mercury in the morning sky |
| 9 April 2019 | Moon close to Mars in evening sky |
| 23 April 2019 | waning Moon close to Jupiter in the evening sky |
| 25 April 2019 | Occultation of Saturn by the Moon, very low on horizon |
| 4-25 May 2019 | Asteroid Ceres visible in binoculars (opposition on 28th) |
| 3 May 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky |
| 6 May 2019 | Eta Aquariid meteor shower. |
| 8 May 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Mars |
| 19 May 2019 | Venus and Uranus a finger-width apart in the morning twilight (binoculars) |
| 20 May 2019 | Jupiter near waning Moon |
| 22 May 2019 | Waning Moon close to Saturn |
| 1-29 June 2019 | Asteroid Ceres visible in binoculars |
| 2 June 2019 | Crescent Moon and Venus close in twilight |
| 4 June 2019 | Crescent Moon and Mercury close |
| 5 June 2019 | Crescent Moon and Mars close |
| 11 June 2019 | Jupiter at Opposition |
| 16 June 2019 | Jupiter and Full Moon close |
| 19 June 2019 | Moon and Saturn close |
| 4 July 2019 | Mercury close to Crescent Moon and Mars in the twilight |
| 10 July 2019 | Saturn at Opposition |
| 13-14 July 2019 | Moon and Jupiter close |
| 16 July 2019 | Moon and Saturn close |
| 16-17 July 2019 | Partial Lunar Eclipse, early morning, really only visible from WA and a bit in the Central states |
| 30 July 2019 | Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower |
| 10 August 2019 | Moon close to Jupiter |
| 12 August 2019 | Moon close to Saturn, Occultation seen on East coast only |
| 6 September 2019 | Waxing Moon and Jupiter close |
| 8-9 September 2019 | Saturn close to Moon, Occultation in northern and Western Australia |
| 13 September 2019 | Apogee Full Moon (mini-Moon) |
| 29 September 2019 | Mercury close to bright star Spica |
| 30 September 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Spica and Mercury with Venus below |
| 3-5 October 2019 | Venus and the bright star Spica close |
| 4 October 2019 | Jupiter and waxing Moon close |
| 6 October 2019 | Saturn and waxing Moon close |
| 22 October 2019 | Orionid meteor shower |
| 24 October 2019 | Variable star Mira at its brightest |
| 29 October 2019 | Mercury, Venus and Crescent Moon close |
| 31 October 2019 | Jupiter and waxing Moon close |
| 2 November 2019 | waxing Moon close to Saturn |
| 9 November 2019 | Jupiter crescent Moon close |
| 11 November 2019 | Crescent Moon and Saturn close |
| 12 November 2019 | Asteroid Vesta at opposition, potentially (just) visible with the unaided eye |
| 17 November 2019 | Leonid Meteor Shower |
| 24 November 2019 | Jupiter and Venus just two finger-widths apart |
| 25 November 2019 | the Crescent Moon, Mars and Mercury form a triangle in the dawn sky |
| 28-29 November 2019 | the Crescent Moon, Jupiter and Venus form a line in the evening twilight |
| 2 December 2019 | Venus close to the globular cluster M22 in the evening twilight (binocular) |
| 11 December 2019 | Venus and Saturn two finger-widths apart |
| 15 December 2019 | Geminid Meteor shower (full Moon, poor rates) |
| 23 December 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Mars in morning sky |
| 26 December 2019 | Partial Eclipse of the Sun, visible only in northern Australia |
| 27 December 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Saturn in the evening twilight |
| 29 December 2019 | Crescent Moon close to Venus in the evening sky |
Labels: asteroids, Conjunction, eclipse, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Opposition, Saturn, unaided eye, Venus, Yearly Sky Events
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:06 pm 
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