Astroblog

The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday, June 8. Five bright planets are visible in a line in the morning sky by mid-week. Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. Jupiter is climbing higher in the sky leaving Mars and Venus behind.  Uranus is a binocular object and is approached by Venus. Mercury is low in the morning twilight.

The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday, June 8.  The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on June 2.

 Morning sky on Saturday June 4 as seen from Adelaide at 6:17 am ACST (690 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury form a line (Uranus, Neptune and the Asteroid Vesta are in the line too, but all need at least binoculars to see) .

The insets show the telescopic appearance of the planets at this time. 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Whole sky on Saturday, June 4, 18:41 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Orion can be seen just 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 low in the morning twilight.

Venus is lowering in the morning twilight.

Mars forms a line with Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury. Mars leaves behind Jupiter.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight below Saturn and above Mars.

Saturn climbs away from Mars, Jupiter, and Venus.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:17 pm 0 comments

The New Moon is Monday, May 30. Four bright planets are visible in a line in the morning sky. Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Jupiter is climbing higher in the sky leaving  Mars and Venus behind.

The New Moon is Monday, May 30. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on June 2.

The insets show the telescopic appearance of the planets 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 Monday, May 30 as seen from Adelaide at 5:44 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Jupiter and Mars are at their closest. The pair fit within the field of view of 10x50 binoculars an wide field telescope eye pieces.

The inset show the binocular appearance of the Mars 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).

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

Mercury is difficult to see low in the twilight glow.

Venus is lowering in the morning twilightand is close to the thin crescent Moon on the 27th.

Mars forms a line with Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus. Mars draws closer to Jupiter. On May 30 the pair are at their closest, a rather spectacular sight.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight below Saturn and Mars. Over the Week Jupiter leaves Venus behind and closes in on Mars. On May 30 the pair are at their closest, a rather spectacular sight.

Saturn climbs away from Mars, Jupiter, and Venus.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:06 pm 0 comments

The Last Quarter Moon is Monday, May 23. Four bright planets are visible in a line in the morning sky. Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Jupiter is climbing higher in the sky leaving Venus behind and coming closer to Mars. On May 22-23 the Moon is close to Saturn, on May 25 the crescent Moon forms a triangle with Mars and Jupiter.

The Last Quarter Moon is Monday, May 23. 

The insets show the telescopic appearance of the Saturn 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 Wednesday, May 25 as seen from Adelaide at 5:41 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. The crescent Moon forms a triangle with Mars and Jupiter . The trio fit withing the field of view of 10x50 binoculars.

The inset show the binocular appearance of the Mars, Jupiter and Venus 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).

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

Mercury is difficult to see low in the twilight glow.

Venus is lowering in the morning twilight.

Mars forms a line with Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus. Mars draws closer to Jupiter. On May 25 the crescent Moon forms a triangle with Mars and Jupiter.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight below Saturn and Mars. Over the Week Jupiter leaves Venus behind and closes in on Mars. On May 25 the crescent Moon forms a triangle with Mars and Jupiter.

Saturn climbs away from Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. On May 22-23 the Moon is close to Saturn.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:32 pm 1 comments

However there are a number of Livesterams available so we can watch it

NASA: 

https://moon.nasa.gov/news/173/livestream-the-eclipse/

Space weather:

https://spaceweather.com/

Time and Date:  https://www.timeanddate.com/live/eclipse-lunar-2022-may-16

Space.com https://www.space.com/super-blood-moon-total-lunar-eclipse-webcasts-may-2022

hopefully some of them will not be chocked with viewers so you can see something.  It will tide us over until the 8 November total Lunar Eclipse.

Labels: eclipse, live-stream, Moon, webcast

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:58 pm 0 comments

The Full Moon is Monday, May 16. Four bright planets are visible in a line in the morning sky. Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Jupiter is climbing higher in the sky leaving Venus behind and coming closer to Mars. On the 18th and 19th mars is within binocular distance of Neptune.

The Full Moon is Monday, May 16.  The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on May 18. 

The insets show the telescopic appearance of the planets 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 Wednesday, May 18 as seen from Adelaide at 5:37 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. Mars and Neptune are at their closest,

The inset show the binocular appearance of the Mars an 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).

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

Mercury is difficult to see low in the twilight glow.

Venus is lowering in the morning twilight.

Mars forms a line with Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus. Mars draws closer to Jupiter. On the 18th and 19th mars is within binocular distance of Neptune.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight below Saturn and Mars. Over the Week Jupiter leaves Venus behind and closes in on Mars.

Saturn climbs away from Mars, Jupiter, and Venus.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:28 pm 0 comments

The First Quarter Moon is Monday, May 9. Four bright planets are visible in a line in the morning sky. Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Jupiter is climbing higher in the sky leaving Venus behind. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower has good rates in the morning between the 7th to 9th of May.

The First Quarter Moon is Monday, May 9. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on May 5. 

 Morning sky on Saturday, May 7 as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. 

The insets show the telescopic appearance of the planets 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).

The north-eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am ACST, the eta Aquariid radiant is marked with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen). 

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

Mercury is difficult to see low in the twilight glow.

Venus is lowering in the morning twilight.

Mars forms a line with Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus. Mars draws closer to Jupiter.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight below Saturn and Mars. Over the Week Jupiter leaves Venus behind.

Saturn climbs away from Mars, Jupiter, and Venus.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:57 pm 0 comments

The north-eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am ACST, the eta Aquariid radiant is marked with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen). 

While the peak is on the morning of the 6th during daylight, the peak is really broad and viewing from the 7-9 will give you decent rates (see table below). Based on the NASA meteor flux program (see below) and my own excel spreadsheet using Jennisken's eta Aquariid stream parameters the best rates will be seen from Australia on the mornings of the 8th and 9th (see table below, but the 7th is very worthwhile too, even the 10th if the other nights are clouded out, as you can see the rate difference between the nights is fairly marginal).

The first Quarter Moon sets before the radiant rises, so we will have a good view this year.

People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 4-5 minutes, and in the country about once every 3 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The radiant is close to Mars, which makes a good reference point.

Weather prediction looks good with clear mornings for most of Australia (except the bit where I live)

You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.

In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality? 

The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 3-4 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible. 

Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.

Town	Morning May 7	Morning May 8	Morning May 9
Adelaide	17 meteors/hr	20 meteors/hr	17 meteors/hr
Brisbane	18 meteors/hr	22 meteors/hr	18 meteors/hr
Darwin	19 meteors/hr	22 meteors/hr	19 meteors/hr
Perth	18 meteors/hr	20 meteors/hr	17 meteors/hr
Melbourne	17 meteors/hr	20 meteors/hr	16 meteors/hr
Hobart	16 meteors/hr	18 meteors/hr	15 meteors/hr
Sydney	17 meteors/hr	20 meteors/hr	17 meteors/hr

The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.

Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Mars as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 5:00 am above).

Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 3 to 4 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.

Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold.  A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site).  The Milky way will arch above you, with Mars just next to the radiant and Jupiter and Venus below.

Use the NASA  meteor shower flux estimator for an estimate of what the shower will be like from your location (you may need to enter your longitude and latitude, surprisingly, while Adelaide and Brisbane are hard-wired in, Sydney and Melbourne are not). See the image to the left for typical output. The peak is rather sharp.

Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only runs under Internet Explorer now.

You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to  7-8 or 8-9 May 2022 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.

Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.

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: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:20 pm 3 comments