Astroblog: Thursday September 16 to Thursday September 23

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Thursday September 16 to Thursday September 23

The Full Moon is Tuesday, September 21. Earth is at Equinox on the 23rd. Four bright planets are seen in the early evening sky. Venus and Mercury are readily visible in the evening sky. Mercury, the bright star Spica and Venus from a line in the late evening twilight. Saturn and Jupiter are visible in the evening sky with Jupiter dominating once Venus has set. The Moon is between Saturn and Jupiter on the 17th and close to Jupiter on the 18th.

The Full Moon is Tuesday, September 21. Earth is at Equinox on the 23rd, where day and night are nearly equal.

Evening twilight sky on Tuesday, September 21 looking north-west as seen from Adelaide at 19:06 ACST (60 minutes after sunset). Venus is high above the horizon with Mercury below close to the bright star Spica.

The inset show the telescopic view of Venus and Mercury at this time. Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Evening sky on Saturday, September 18 showing the north-eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 19:33 pm ACST(90 minutes after sunset). The waxing Moon, Saturn and Jupiter form a line in the evening sky with the Moon close to Jupiter.

The insets shows the telescopic views of Jupiter and Saturn at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset), click to embiggen.

Whole sky at 19:33 ACST (90 minutes after sunset), on Saturday, September 18 as seen from Adelaide. Four bright planets can be seen in the sky.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).

Mercury is now high in the twilight. Mercury, Spica and Venus make a line in the late evening twilight and mercury comes closer to Spica. Mercury is closest to Spica on the 21st.

Venus is visible in the early evening when the sky is fully dark. I have been able to see Venus from just after sunset and it is easily seen over 2 hours after sunset, longer if you have a clear western horizon. When the sky is fully dark you can see Venus above the western horizon and bright Jupiter above the eastern horizon.

Mars is lost in the twilight.

Jupiter is now rising before sunset and is readily visible when the sky is fully dark. Saturn and Jupiter form a line in the sky. Jupiter was at Opposition, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth on August the 19th, and is still excellent in even small telescopes. On the 18th the Moon is close to Jupiter

Saturn is now rising around well before sunrise. Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on August 2nd. But it is still is an excellent time for telescopic observation. On Thursday 17th the waxing Moon is between Saturn and 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