Monday, March 30, 2020
Sky This Week - Thursday April 2 to Thursday April 9
The Full Moon is Wednesday, April 8. This is a perigee Syzygy Moon, the closest this year. Daylight savings ends on the 5th. Venus is prominent in the evening sky well after twilight and is in the Pleiades on the 3rd and 4th. Four bright planets are visible in the morning skies. Jupiter dominates the morning skies as Mars leaves Saturn behind. Mercury is visible below the trio. The Red Giant star Betelgeuse in Orion is still dim but is brightening.
The Full Moon is Wednesday, April 8. This is a perigee Syzygy Moon, where the full moon occurs at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth. This is the closest perigee Syzygy Moon this year. Daylight savings ends on the 5th.
Sky at 20:02 ACDST on Friday April 3 (60 minutes after sunset)
looking west as seen from Adelaide. Venus is prominent in the sky and on top of the iconic Pleiades cluster. The inset shows the binocular view of Venus and the Pleiades at this time.
Venus is a distinct "half Moon" shape in even small telescopes.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen.
Morning sky at 6:07 ACDST (90 minutes minutes before sunrise)
facing east as seen from Adelaide on Saturday, April 4.
Four bright planets are dominating the morning skies. Jupiter, Saturn and Mars with Mercury is bright below.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).
Looking north-east after Full Moon on Wednesday, April 8 at 22:00
ACST (strictly Full Moon is at 13:00 ACST and Perigee at 4:00). The
Full Moon is a perigee
Moon when the Full Moon is closest to the Earth. This is the closest perigee Syzygy Moon this year. Don't look just at
moon rise as the horizon illusion
will make the Moon look bigger than it is, wait until it is a decent
way above the horizon. The size contrast will be best when comparing to
the October 31/November 1 apogee Moon.
A full Moon at perigee has been called a "Super Moon", this is not an astronomical term (the astronomical term is perigee syzygy, but that doesn't trip off the tongue so nicely), but an astrological one first coined in 1979 (see here).
Still, it is a good excuse to get people out and looking at the Moon.
Evening sky looking north-west at 20:30 ACDST on Saturday, April 4. (90 minutes after sunset). Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. Orion is readily visible. Betelgeuse is the bright red star to the right of the "saucepan" of Orion.
Betelgeuse continues brightening, so keep watching this iconic star.
Betelgeuse is a red giant star which forms a distinctive part of the Constellation of Orion. It is a variable star, with small fluctuations in brightness not visible to the casual observer.
Betelgeuse had dimmed substantially and reached a 50 record minimum of around magnitude 1.6, but is now brightening again and is about magnitude 1 around the brightness of magnitude 1 Aldebaran, the next brightest star just to the west of (below) Betelgeuse. Keep an eye on this historic dimming and re-brightening event, observing hints and stars for magnitude estimation are given here. The waxing moon will interfere with estimates of Betelgeuses' brightness towards the end of the week.
Venus is prominent above the western horizon in the early evening sky. Venus is now readily seen up to 90 minutes after sunset. Venus will come closer to the beautiful Pleiades cluster early in the week, and will pass through it on the 3rd and 4th.
Four bright planets grace the morning sky..
Mercury is at its highest in the morning sky and bright. After this week it will begin to sink again
Mars is visible high in the morning sky. Mars is leaving the pair of Saturn and Jupiter behind.
Jupiter climbs higher in the morning sky, moving away from Mars. Jupiter and Saturn stay around a hand-span apart during the week.
Saturn climbs higher in the morning sky below Jupiter drawing away from Mars
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to current time.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
The Full Moon is Wednesday, April 8. This is a perigee Syzygy Moon, where the full moon occurs at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth. This is the closest perigee Syzygy Moon this year. Daylight savings ends on the 5th.
Venus is a distinct "half Moon" shape in even small telescopes.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen.
Four bright planets are dominating the morning skies. Jupiter, Saturn and Mars with Mercury is bright below.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).
A full Moon at perigee has been called a "Super Moon", this is not an astronomical term (the astronomical term is perigee syzygy, but that doesn't trip off the tongue so nicely), but an astrological one first coined in 1979 (see here).
Still, it is a good excuse to get people out and looking at the Moon.
Evening sky looking north-west at 20:30 ACDST on Saturday, April 4. (90 minutes after sunset). Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. Orion is readily visible. Betelgeuse is the bright red star to the right of the "saucepan" of Orion. Betelgeuse continues brightening, so keep watching this iconic star.
Betelgeuse is a red giant star which forms a distinctive part of the Constellation of Orion. It is a variable star, with small fluctuations in brightness not visible to the casual observer.
Betelgeuse had dimmed substantially and reached a 50 record minimum of around magnitude 1.6, but is now brightening again and is about magnitude 1 around the brightness of magnitude 1 Aldebaran, the next brightest star just to the west of (below) Betelgeuse. Keep an eye on this historic dimming and re-brightening event, observing hints and stars for magnitude estimation are given here. The waxing moon will interfere with estimates of Betelgeuses' brightness towards the end of the week.
Venus is prominent above the western horizon in the early evening sky. Venus is now readily seen up to 90 minutes after sunset. Venus will come closer to the beautiful Pleiades cluster early in the week, and will pass through it on the 3rd and 4th.
Four bright planets grace the morning sky..
Mercury is at its highest in the morning sky and bright. After this week it will begin to sink again
Mars is visible high in the morning sky. Mars is leaving the pair of Saturn and Jupiter behind.
Jupiter climbs higher in the morning sky, moving away from Mars. Jupiter and Saturn stay around a hand-span apart during the week.
Saturn climbs higher in the morning sky below Jupiter drawing away from Mars
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to current time.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:43 pm 
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