Wednesday, January 04, 2023
Thursday January 5 to Thursday January 12
The Full Moon is Saturday January 7. The earth is at perihelion, when it is closest to the Sun on the 5th. Jupiter is easy to see as brightest object in the western evening sky aside from the Moon. Bright Mars, the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle. Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight while Mercury falls back towards the horizon and is lost to view this week. Saturn sinks towards the twilight.
The Full Moon is Saturday January 7. The earth is at perihelion, when it is closest to the Sun on the 5th. The Moon is apogee, when it is furthest form the earth, on the 8th (mini Moon).
Evening sky on Saturday, January 7 as seen from Adelaide at 21:17
ACDST, (45 minutes after sunset, click
to embiggen). Venus is low above the horizon and Mercury is lost in the twilight.You will need a low, unobstructed horizon to see Venus clearly.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent
local time (45 minutes after sunset).
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 inset is the telescopic view at this time.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).
Evening sky on Saturday, January 7 as seen from Adelaide at 22:33 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click
to embiggen).
Saturn forms a triangle with delta and gamma Capricornii low in the west with Jupiter to the north-west.
The insets are the telescopic view of Jupiter (Saturn is too low for good telescopic observation).
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 bright Moon will wash out the fainter objects.
Elsewhere
in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).
Mercury is lost in the 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 all evening (setting just after midnight) and is the brightest object in the north-west to western sky.
Saturn forms a triangle with delta and gamma Capricornii. Saturn is low in the west and sets shortly after the sky is fully dark.
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
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