Astroblog: Thursday May 12 to Thursday May 19

Monday, May 09, 2022

Thursday May 12 to Thursday May 19

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.

Morning sky on Saturday, May 14 as seen from Adelaide at 5:34 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).

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).

Whole sky on Saturday, May 14, 18:49 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. However, the waxing Moon will make them difficult to see.

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.

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