Astroblog: Thursday March 16 to Thursday March 23

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Thursday March 16 to Thursday March 23

The New Moon is Wednesday, March 22. Earth is at Equinox on the 21st. Venus and the thin cresent Moon are visible together at the end of the week. Jupiter is lost in the twilight. Saturn is low in the twilight and is visited by the crescent Moon on the 20th. Bright Mars, the star Elnath and Zeta Taurii, the stars that form the tips of the Horns of the Bull, form a triangle.

The New Moon is Wednesday, March 22. The perigee Moon, when the Moon is closest to Earth, is on the 20th. Earth is at Equinox on the 21st, when day and night are equal length.

Morning sky on Monday, March 20 as seen from Adelaide at 06:23 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Saturn is low in the twilight with the crescent Moon nearby.

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

Evening sky on Thursday, March 23 as seen from Adelaide at 20:05 ACDST, (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus is low above the horizon with the thin crescent Moon nearby. 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 (45 minutes after sunset).

Evening sky on Saturday, March 18 as seen from Adelaide at 20:55 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars, the star Elnath and Zeta Taurii the stars that form the tips of the Horns of the Bull, form a triangle.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, March 10 as seen from Adelaide at 201:55 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon between the stars Elnath and Zeta Taurii.

Orion the Hunter, is prominent along with Taurus the Bull and Sirius in the north-western 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 lost in the morning twilight.

Venus climbs higher in the twilight and is near the thin crescent Moon on the 23rd.

Mars the star Elnath and Zeta Taurii the stars that form the tips of the Horns of the Bull, form a triangle.

Jupiter is now lost in the twilight.

Saturn enters the morning skies but is hard to see low in the twilight. It is near the thin crescent Moon on the 20th.

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