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Tuesday, April 14, 2020

 

Sky This Week - Thursday April 16 to Thursday April 23

The New Moon is Thursday, April 23. Venus is prominent in the evening sky well after twilight. You may be able to see shadows cast by Venus.  Four bright planets are visible in the morning skies. The Moon is between Saturn and Mars on the 16th and on the 17th the crescent Moon forms a line with the bright planets. Jupiter dominates the morning skies as Mars leaves Saturn behind. Mercury is just visible below the trio. Mercury and the thin crescent Moon are close low in the twilight on the 22nd.

The New Moon is Thursday, April 23.The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on the 21st.

Evening sky at 18:43 ACST on Saturday, April 18 (60 minutes after sunset) looking west as seen from Adelaide. Venus is prominent in the sky near the Hyades and the bright red star Aldebaran. The inset shows the telescope view of Venus.

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 5:45 ACST (60 minutes minutes before sunrise) facing east as seen from Adelaide on Thursday, April 16.

Four bright planets and the Moon are dominating the morning skies. Jupiter, Saturn and Mars with Mercury is bright below. The Moon is between Saturn and Mars in the line-up.


Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).


Morning sky at 5:46 ACST (60 minutes minutes before sunrise) facing east as seen from Adelaide on Friday, April 17.

The crescent Moon is below Mars in the line-up





Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).



Morning sky at 6:19 ACST (30 minutes minutes before sunrise) facing east as seen from Adelaide on Wednesday, April 22.

The thin crescent Moon is close to Mercury low in the morning twilight.




Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (30 minutes before sunrise).



Venus is prominent above the western horizon in the early evening sky. Venus is readily seen up to 90 minutes after sunset and will be at greatest brilliance next week. Although greatest Brilliance is next week, with the Moon out of the way you may be able to see shadows cast by Venus this week. Venus is below the beautiful Hyades cluster and bright red Aldebaran early in the week.

Four bright planets grace the morning sky. On the mornings of the 16th and 17th the waning Moon joins the line-up, making an attractive sight.

Mercury is still visible in the early twilight, but is rapidly sinking towards the horizon. On the 22nd the tin crescent Moon and Mercury are close together low in the morning twilight.

 Mars is visible high in the morning sky.  The Moon is between Saturn and Mars on the 16th. and below Mars on the 17th, forming an attractive line up.

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. The Moon is between Saturn and Mars on the 16th.

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/

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