Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Thursday February 2 to Thursday February 9
The Full Moon is Monday February 6 (apogee mini moon). Jupiter is easy to see as brightest object in the western evening sky aside from the Moon. Jupiter is sinking towards the horizon coming closer to Venus which is challenging Jupiter for brightest evening object as it climbs out to the twilight. Bright Mars, the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle. Comet C/2022 E3 enters the evening sky and is visible in binoculars.
The Full Moon is Monday, February 6. The Moon is at Apogee on February 4.
Morning sky on Saturday, February 4 as seen from Adelaide at 05:36 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mercury is below the Scorpius.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).
Evening sky on Saturday, February 4 as seen from Adelaide at 21:03 ACDST, (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus is low above the horizon with Jupiter above. You will need a low, unobstructed horizon to see Venus at its best.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (45 minutes after sunset).
Evening sky on Saturday, February 4 as seen from Adelaide at 21:56 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click
to embiggen). Mars, the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle.
Jupiter is seen low in the west
Mars was at opposition, when was at its biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on December the 8th, but is still an excellent sight. The insets are the telescopic views of Mars and Jupiter at this time.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).
Between the bright star
Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to
discover. However, the Full Moon washes them out.
Elsewhere
in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).
Mercury is low in the morning twilight.
Venus climbs higher in the twilight.
Mars the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle.
Jupiter is now sinking to the west in the late evening sky. Jupiter is visible most of the evening (setting just before 11 pm) and is the brightest object in the western sky once Venus has set.
Saturn is lost in the twilight.
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