Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Thursday September 1 to Thursday September 8
The First Quarter Moon is Sunday, September 4. Three bright classical planets in a line in the morning sky, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Mars is between the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster at the beginning of the week. Jupiter is now readily visible in the late evening sky below Saturn. Saturn is now past opposition, but will be worthwhile viewing for may weeks to come. The Moon is close to Saturn on the 8th. Mercury is still high in the evening twilight this week.
The First Quarter Moon is Sunday, September 4. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 8th.
Morning sky on Saturday, September 3 as seen from Adelaide at 05:08 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise).
Mars is in between the Pleiades and the bright red star Aldebaran.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise. click to embiggen).
Evening sky on Thursday September 8 as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 am ACST.
Saturn forms a shallow triangle with delta and gamma Capricornii. The waxing Moon is close to Saturn.
Vesta is just visible to the unaided eye between Saturn and Fomalhaut.
Jupiter is above the horizon.
The insets are the telescopic views of Saturn and Jupiter at the same magnification at this time.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time.
Evening sky on September 3 as seen from Adelaide at 19:22 pm ACST (90 minutes after sunset).
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).
Scorpius is prominent above the northern horizon with the teapot of Sagittarius below. From the Sting of the Scorpion through the teapot there is a wealth of binocular objects to discover.
Between the bright star
Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to
discover. However the waxing Moon will make these harder to see.
Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).
Mercury is visible above the western horizon high in the twilight below the bright star Spica.
Venus is lost in the twilight.
Mars is between the Pleiades and Hyades, especially the red star Aldebaran.
Jupiter climbs higher in the evening sky low above the horizon.
Saturn forms a shallow triangle with delta and gamma Capricornii. Saturn was at opposition, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 15th of August. Saturn is close to the waxing Moon on the 8th.
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