Astroblog: Thursday February 23 to Thursday March 2

Monday, February 20, 2023

Thursday February 23 to Thursday March 2

The First Quarter Moon is Monday, February 27. Jupiter is sinking towards the horizon into the twilight, coming closer to Venus and the pair are at their closest on the 2nd. Bright Mars, the red star Aldebaran and the star Elnath form a line with the crescent Moon joining them on the 28th. Mercury is lowering in the morning twilight.

The First Quarter Moon is Monday, February 27.

Morning sky on Saturday, February 25 as seen from Adelaide at 06:02 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mercury is low to the horizon.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).

Evening sky on Thursday, March 2 as seen from Adelaide at 20:51 ACDST, (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus is low above the horizon and at it's closest to Jupiter. You will need a low, unobstructed horizon to see the pair at their best.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset).

Evening sky on Tuesday February 28 as seen from Adelaide at 21:23 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars, the red star Aldebaran and the star Elnath form a line with the crescent moon between Mars and Elnath.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).

Whole sky on Saturday, February 25 as seen from Adelaide at 21:27 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon with the Moon nearby.

Orion the Hunter, is prominent along with Taurus the Bull and Sirius in the northern sky.

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 is low in the morning twilight.

Venus climbs higher in the twilight and is closest to Jupiter on the 2nd.

Mars the red star Aldebaran and the star Elnath form a line with the crescent moon between Mars and Elnath.

Jupiter is now sinking to the west in the late evening sky. Jupiter is coming close to venus and the pair are at their closest on the 2nd.

Saturn is lost in the twilight.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEDST, Western sky at 10 pm AEDST. 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