Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Seeing Vesta at Opposition (March 2021)
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| The North-east horizon as seen from Adelaide at 23:00 ACDST (10:00 pm non-daylight saving time) showing the location of Vesta (click to embiggen) on Thursday, March 4, when Vesta is at opposition at its brightest.Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. | The approximate binocular view of Vesta and the three prominent guide stars at 23:00 ACDST (10:00 pm non-daylight saving time) on Thursday, March 4. (click to embiggen, similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time). |
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| Black and white horizon chart facing east suitable for printing showing location of 4 Vesta as seen from Adelaide at 23:00 ACDST. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. Use the charts above to orient yourself get to the guide stars. | Black and white binocular chart suitable for printing showing the movement of 4 Vesta over the next 30 days. The large circle represents the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. Click to embiggen and print. Use the horizon chart to the left for orientation first. |
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The Asteroid 4 Vesta is one of the iconic minor planets, and
one of two orbited by the Dawn spacecraft. At favorable
oppositions Vesta is bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye under dark
sky conditions. This year it gets to magnitude 5.8 (although the chart says 6.0) just over unaided eye visibility at dark sky sites. Not really visible from suburban skies, but it will be easily visible in binoculars and small telescopes.
This year is a reasonable opposition of Vesta on March 4, when it will
reach a magnitude of 5.8 at its brightest with good guide stars. The next bright opposition is 22 August in 2022 (also magnitude 5.8) but there will be fewer good guide stars. And in May 2025 it will reach magnitude 5.6 with good guide stars.
Sadly just before opposition itself, the waxing Moon / full Moon will interfere significantly (although you should still be able to just see it in binoculars. However, at opposition and several days after opposition Vesta is still bright and easily seen. 3-7 March may be best.
Labels: 4 Vesta, binocular, telescope
Monday, February 22, 2021
Thursday February 25 to Thursday March 4
The Full Moon is Saturday February 27. The Moon is at Perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on March 2.
Adelaide.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset). click to embiggen.
Venus is lost in the twilight.
Mars is readily visible in the evening sky above the north-western horizon in the early evening. Mars is the brightest object low above the north-western horizon aside from the nearby Moon. Mars is within binocular range of the Pleiades and is closest on the 4th.
Jupiter is climbing higher in the morning twilight flowing a line with Saturn, later in the week brightening Mercury forms a triangle with the pair.This triangle remains for several days as Mercury heads towards Jupiter.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEDST, Western sky at 10 pm AEDST. 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 the 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/
Labels: weekly sky
Friday, February 19, 2021
Seeing Mars tonight after Perseverance's Landing(19 February 2021)
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| Evening sky at 21:37 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), on Thursday, February 19
facing north-west as seen from Adelaide. Mars is the brightest object
low above the north-western horizon, aside from the nearby Moon, with
Uranus nearby. Mars is drawing closer to the Pleiades cluster. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset), click to embiggen. | The approximate view from Perseverance's landing site looking south east tonight (well actually, it's around 1 am, earth rises not long before local sunrise). |
Mars tonight is a little different. If you have clear skies (unlike me) look to the north-west. You eye is immediately drawn to the almost first quarter Moon. below and too the west (left) is the bright orange dot that is Mars.
Tonight, Mars is occupied by one more robot, the rover Perseverance (Percy) joins Curiosity roving over the surface of Mars after a nail biting descent using a sky-crane. Amongst the bevy of science instruments is the experimental helicopter Intrepid. It is rather mind-boggling to think we may soon have a helicopter gallivanting around Mars.
Percy landed almost precisely on target in Jezero Crater, wher it will drill samples of an ancient river delta for signs of life. The samples will be returned to earth by a later mission is all goes well.
The river delta landing site of Percy is almost 4,000 kilometers from Curiosities landing site in the ancient lake-bed of Gale crater.
The first images from Percy by the hazard cameras were received shortly after landing (you can see the public raw images here) and we can expect a trove of new images as the other instruments come on line.
If Percy was o take an image of the night-sky towards dawn, it would look something like the image above.
Percy and Curiosity will shortly joined by the Chinese lander from it's Tiawen-1 orbiter, which successfully achieved orbit earlier, along with the UAE's orbiter Hope. This is a bumper yera for Mar's planetary science, and we will never look at Mars in the same way from now on.
Labels: Earth from Mars, Mars, spacecraft
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Thursday February 18 to Thursday February 25
The First quarter Moon is Saturday February 20.
Adelaide.The First Quarter Moon is under the Hyades.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset). click to embiggen.
Venus is lost in the twilight.
Mars is readily visible in the evening sky above the north-western horizon in the early evening. Mars is the brightest object low above the north-western horizon aside from the nearby Moon. Mars is near the Moon on the18 and 19th.
Jupiter is climbing higher in the morning twilight flowing a line with Saturn, later in the week brightening Mercury forms a triangle with the pair.This triangle remains for several days as Mercury heads towards Jupiter.
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 the 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/
Labels: weekly sky
Monday, February 08, 2021
Thursday February 11 to Thursday February 18
The New Moon is Friday February 12. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on the 18th.
Morning sky on Thursday, February 11 showing the eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 6:18 am ACDST (30 minutes before sunrise). Venus is getting lower to the horizon. The inset shows the approximate view through 10x50 binoculars.
You will need a level, unobstructed horizon to see this.
Adelaide. With the Moon out of the way by the time it is fully dark in the evening, this is an excellent time to observe the constellations, particularly in the area between the Southern Cross and Canopus.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset). click to embiggen.
You will need a level, unobstructed horizon to see this and Mercury will only be visible in binoculars.
Venus is still visible low above the horizon in the morning. This is probably the last week o see Venus before it is lost in the twilight glow. You will need a level, unobstructed horizon to see it. Venus is close to Jupiter and the crescent Moon on the morning of the 11th. Then on the 14th, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury form a triangle. You will need a level, unobstructed horizon to see this and Mercury will only be visible in binoculars.
Mars is readily visible in the evening sky above the north-western horizon in the early evening. Mars is the brightest object above the north-western horizon as ide from the Moon. Mars is near the Moon on the18th
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 the 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/
Labels: weekly sky
Monday, February 01, 2021
Thursday February 4 to Thursday February 11
The Last Quarter Moon is Friday February 5.
Adelaide. With the Moon out of the way in the evening, this is an excellent time to observe the constellations, particularly in the area between the Southern Cross and Canopus.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset). click to embiggen.
Morning sky on Thursday, February 11 showing the eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 6:18 am ACDST (30 minutes before sunrise). Venus is getting lower to the horizon. The inset shows the approximate view through 10x50 binoculars.
You will need a level, unobstructed horizon to see this and binoculars to see this at its best.
Venus is still visible low above the horizon in the morning. You may need a level, unobstructed horizon to see Venus. Venus is close to Saturn n the Morning of the 6th and Jupiter and the crescent Moon on the morning of the 11th.
Mars is readily visible in the evening sky above the north-western horizon in the early evening. Mars is the brightest object above the north-western horizon.
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 the 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/
Labels: weekly sky
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