Astroblog: Thursday February 9 to Thursday February 16

Monday, February 06, 2023

Thursday February 9 to Thursday February 16

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday, February 14. Jupiter is sinking towards the horizon into the twilight, coming closer to Venus which is challenging Jupiter for the brightest evening object. The pair make a nice sight in the twilight. Bright Mars, the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle. Comet C/2022 E3 continues to climb the evening sky and is close to Mars on the 11th, and the red star Aldebaran on the 14th.

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday, February 14.

Morning sky on Saturday, February 11 as seen from Adelaide at 05:46 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mercury is below the the tail of Scorpius and the teapot of Sagittarius.

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

Evening sky on Saturday, February 11 as seen from Adelaide at 20:56 ACDST, (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus is low above the horizon with Jupiter above and coming closer. 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 11 as seen from Adelaide at 21:47 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars, the red star Aldebaran and and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle. Comet C/2022 E3 is close to Mars.

Jupiter is seen low in the west

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).

Evening sky showing the track of comet C/2022 E3 from Monday, February 6 to Tuesday, February 14 as seen from Adelaide at 21:56 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). The comet is easily visible in binoculars and can be located by sweeping up from the bright star Capella above the northern horizon towards Mars and the star Aldebaran.

The comet will be near Mars on the 11th and Aldebaran on the 14th.

For more detailed charts and spotters maps see my C/2022 E3 page.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, February 11 as seen from Adelaide at 21:47 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Jupiter and Mars are visible spanning the sky.

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.

Mars the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle. Comet C/2022 E3 is close to Mars on the 11th.

Jupiter is now sinking to the west in the late evening sky. Jupiter is visible most of the evening (setting just after 10 pm) and is the brightest object in the western sky once Venus has set.

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