Astroblog: Thursday April 21 to Thursday April 28

Monday, April 18, 2022

Thursday April 21 to Thursday April 28

The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday, April 23. Mars is readily visible in the morning sky just above bright Venus and below Saturn. Over the week Saturn moves away from Mars. Jupiter is climbing higher in the twilight with Venus sinking to meet it. The end of the week sees a planet dance with the waning Moon coming close to first Saturn (25th), then Mars (26th), Venus, and Jupiter (27th-28th). Venus and Neptune have a close conjunction on the 28th (telescope only).

The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday, April 23.

Morning sky on Tuesday, April 26 as seen from Adelaide at 5:22 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. The waning Moon is close to Saturn, The inset shows the telescopic views of Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter at this time.

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 Thursday, April 28 as seen from Adelaide at 5:25 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. The waning Moon is close to Jupiter.

Venus and Neptune are at their closest at this time. The inset shows the telescopic view of Venus, and Neptune at this time.

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 April 23, 19:07 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Orion can be seen above the western horizon. As Orion sinks Scorpius rises above the Eastern horizon. 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 is lost to view.

Venus is high in the morning twilight and is moving towards Jupiter. Venus forms a line with Mars and Saturn and Jupiter. On the 27th and 28th, the crescent Moon is close to the pair of Venus and Jupiter. On the 28th Venus and Neptune are close, visible together in telescope eyepieces.

Mars is rising higher, forming a line with Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. On the 26th the waning Moon is close to Mars.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight below Venus, Saturn and Mars. Over the Week Venus and Jupiter come closer. On the 27th and 28th the crescent Moon is close to the pair of Venus and Jupiter.

Saturn climbs away from Mars and Venus. On the 25th the waning Moon is close to Saturn.

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