Astroblog: Thursday June 23 to Thursday June 30

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Thursday June 23 to Thursday June 30

The New Moon is Wednesday, June 29. The five bright classical planets are visible in a line in the morning sky, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Also present but not visible to the unaided eye are the dwarf planet Pluto, asteroid Vesta, Neptune and Uranus. The Moon climbs down the ladder of planets, being close to Jupiter on the 22nd, very close to Mars on the 23rd, Uranus on the 25th (occultation in WA, NT and FNQ) and Venus on the 26th.

The New Moon is Wednesday, June 29.

Morning sky on Thursday June 23 as seen from Adelaide at 5:53 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). The crescent Moon is near Mars.The inset shows the binocular appearance of the Moon and Mars at 3:00 am local time.

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).

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 June 25 as seen from Adelaide at 5:53 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). The Moon and and Uranus are at their closest (occultation in WA, NT and FNQ). The inset shows the binocular appearance of the Moon and Uranus at this time. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia except the occulting states at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time.

Morning sky on Sunday June 26 as seen from Adelaide at 6:24 am ACST (60 minutes before sunrise). The crescent moon forms a line with Venus, Aldebaran and Mercury, with the Pleiades cluster close by.

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 25, 18:43 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Scorpius is prominent above the South 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 lowering in the morning twilight.

Venus is lowering in the morning twilight and is close to the crescent Moon on the 26th.

Mars forms a line with Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury (and Uranus and Neptune). Mars is close to the crescent Moon on the 23rd.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight below Saturn and above Mars. Jupiter is visited by the Moon on the 22nd.

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