Astroblog: Thursday February 10 to Thursday February 17

Tuesday, February 08, 2022

Thursday February 10 to Thursday February 17

The Full Moon is Thursday, February 17. The evening sky is now devoid of bright planets, but the constellations of Orion in the north and Carina in the South make up for this. Mars is readily visible in the morning sky in handle of the teapot of Sagittarius. Mars is within binocular distance of the iconic globular cluster M22 at the start of the week. Venus is climbing in the morning twilight towards Mars. During the week Mercury continues to climb out of the morning twilight towards the pair.

The Full Moon is Thursday, February 17. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on the 11th.

Morning sky on Saturday February 12 showing the eastern morning sky as seen from Adelaide at 5:12 am ACDST (90 minutes before sunrise). Mars, Venus, and Mercury and form a triangle in the morning sky. The inset shows the approximate telescopic view of Venus and Mercury.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Morning sky on Saturday February 12 as seen from Adelaide at 5:12 am ACDST (90 minutes before sunrise). This is a higher power view suitable for binoculars.

Mars, Venus, the globular cluster M22 and the Asteroid Vesta are all within a binocular file of each other. Mars and Venus remain within a binocular field of vest for the rest of the week.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Whole sky on Saturday February 12, 21:47 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades can be seen above the northern horizon. The waxing Moon is above the bright star Elnath in Taurus. Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are a wealth of binocular objects to discover.

Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

Mercury climbs higher in the morning sky this week, heading towards the pair of Venus and Mars.

Venus is rising in the morning twilight towards Mars.

Mars is rising higher, and is visible in the morning sky in the handle of the teapot of Sagittarius. Mars is within a binocular field of the iconic globular cluster M22 for most of week.

Jupiter is lost in the twilight.

Saturn is lost in the twilight.

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