Astroblog: Thursday November 24 to Thursday December 1

Monday, November 21, 2022

Thursday November 24 to Thursday December 1

The New Moon is Thursday, November 24, First Quarter Moon is Thursday December 1. Jupiter is easy to see as brightest object in the evening sky aside from the Moon. Saturn is close to the crescent Moon on the 29th. Mars is now rising well before midnight, but is still best to see in the morning. Mars forms a triangle with the bright stars Elnath and Zeta Taurii, the tips of the horns of the Bull, but is now moving up the horns back towards red Aldebaran. Mars is at its closest to Earth on December the 1st. Mercury and Venus climb higher in the evening twilight but are difficult to see.

The New Moon is Thursday, November 24, First Quarter Moon is Thursday December 1.

Evening sky on Saturday, November 26 as seen from Adelaide at 20:38 ACDST, (30 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus and Mercury are low above the horizon in the twilight, with the crescent Moon above. You will need a low, unobstructed horizon like the ocean to see them clearly (and possibly binoculars as well).

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (30 minutes after sunset).

Evening sky on Saturday, November 26 as seen from Adelaide at 22:30 ACDST, (click to embiggen). Mars forms a triangle the bright stars Elnath and Zeta Taurii.

Mars is rising around 20:30 am non-daylight saving time (21:00 daylight saving time) but is still best seen in the morning. The inset is the telescopic view at this time.

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

Evening sky on Tuesday, November 29 as seen from Adelaide at 21:55 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Saturn forms a line with iota, delta and gamma Capricornii with Jupiter to the north. The crescent Moon is close to Saturn.

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 (90 minutes after sunset).

Whole sky on Saturday, November 26 as seen from Adelaide at 21:52 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). The Moon, Saturn , Jupiter and Mars are visible spanning the sky from horizon to horizon.

Scorpius is sinking in the western horizon with the teapot of Sagittarius above. The low altitude makes the clusters of Sagittarius hard to make out.

The Scorpions foe, Orion the Hunter, is rising in the east.

Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to discover.

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

Mercury climbs out of the twilight.

Venus climbs out of the twilight.

Mars forms a triangle the bright stars Elnath and Zeta Taurii, the tips of the horns of the Bull, but is now moving up the horns back towards red Aldebaran. Mars is at its closest to Earth on December the 1st.

Jupiter climbs higher in the late evening sky was at opposition, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 27th of September. Jupiter is visible all evening.

Saturn forms a line with iota, 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 crescent Moon on the 29th.

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