Astroblog: Thursday February 3 to Thursday February 10

Tuesday, February 01, 2022

Thursday February 3 to Thursday February 10

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday, February 8. Jupiter is now alone in the night sky, setting before the sky is fully dark. The thin crescent Moon is close to Jupiter on February 3. Mars is readily visible in the morning sky in the teapot of Sagittarius. On the 6th Mars is close to the iconic globular cluster M22. Venus is climbing in the morning twilight towards Mars. During the week Mercury climbs out of the morning twilight towards the pair.

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday, February 8.

Morning sky on Sunday February 6 showing the eastern morning sky as seen from Adelaide at 5:05 am ACDST (90 minutes before sunrise). Mars, Venus, and Mercury and form a triangle in the morning sky. Mars is close to the globular cluster M22, The inset shows the approximate telescopic view of Mars and M22.

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

Western Evening sky on Thursday, February 3 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 21:05 ACDST (45 minutes after sunset). Jupiter is close to the Crescent Moon.

Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Whole sky on Saturday February 5, 21:54 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades can be seen above the northern horizon.

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 teapot of Sagittarius. On the 6th Mars is close to the iconic globular cluster M22.

Jupiter is visible low in the western twilight sky. The thin crescent Moon is close to Jupiter on February 3.

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