Astroblog

The Full  Moon is Sunday, June 4. The Moon occults the moderately bright star Delta Scorpii (Dschubba) in the twilight on the early evening of the 3rd. Saturn is now rising just after local midnight and is high in the morning sky above the pair of Jupiter and Mercury. Venus is prominent from the evening twilight to early evening. On June 1 Mars is on the outskirts of the Beehive open cluster, on the 2nd and 3rd it is in the heart of the Beehive. At this time Venus forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux. 

The Full  Moon is Sunday, June 4. The Moon occults the moderately bright star Delta Scorpii in the twilight on the early evening of the 3rd. The Moon is at Perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 7th.

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

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

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

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the roughly the equivalent local time.  

 

 

 

Whole sky on Saturday, June 3 as seen from Adelaide at 18:42 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon and Venus is setting in the west.The nearly Moon is high above the western horizon in the head of the Scorpion, occulting delta Scorpii.

Orion the Hunter, is setting on the western horizon while Sirius is still prominent low in the western sky. Scorpius is rising in the east.

Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to discover. However the Moons light is washing them out.

   

 Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

 

Mercury is heading towards the horizon in the morning twilight, and is below Jupiter.  As the week goes on Mercury leaves Jupiter behind in the morning twilight.

Venus climbs still higher in the twilight. On the 2nd-3rd Venus forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux.

Mars On June 1 Mars is on the outskirts of the Beehive open cluster. On the 2nd-3rd it is in the heart of the cluster.

Jupiter is prominent in the morning sky, with Mercury below it. As the week goes on Jupiter climbs higher in the morning twilight leaving Mercury behind .

Saturn climbs higher in the morning skies and is rising just after local midnight. 

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

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:30 am 0 comments

Evening sky on Saturday, June 3 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 17:59 ACST showing the Moon and Delta Scorpii, just as the Moon is about to cover it.  The inset shows the telescopic view of The Moon at 18:52, as the Moon moves off delta Scorpii. Click to embiggen	Evening sky on Saturday, June 3 looking east as seen from Melbourne at 18:33 AEST showing the Moon and Delta Scorpii, just as the Moon is about to cover it.  The inset shows the telescopic view of The Moon at 19:29, as the Moon moves off delta Scorpii. Click to embiggen	Evening sky on Saturday, June 3 looking east as seen from Sydney at 18:26 AEST showing the Moon and Delta Scorpii, just as the Moon is about to cover it.  The inset shows the telescopic view of The Moon at 19:28, as the Moon moves off delta Scorpii. Click to embiggen

On the evening of June 3, the bright star delta Scorpii (Dschubba) in the head of the Scorpion is occulted by the Moon in the early evening just on Nautical twilight. Ingress is low to the horizon and will be hard telescopically, but reappearance an hour later should be viewable.

The occultation occurs with the Moon low above the horizon at the start for the eastern states, although higher the further north you are. South Australia has a reasonable view but Darwin and Perth miss out, although delta Scorprii will be seen near by the Moon. Disappearance and appearance times are given in the table below.

While the occultation is visible to the unaided eye, the sight will be better in binoculars or a small telescope (the low hight above the horizon may make it difficult for telescopes to point down that low). Set up ahead of time so that you can be sure everything is working well and you can watch the entire event comfortably. delta Scorpii will be clearly visible to the unaided eye near the Moon.

Delta Scorpii (Dschubba) reappears about an hour later, when the Moon is much higher and better for telescopic viewing.  

To the west, Venus forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux and Mars is in the heart of the Beehive cluster.

Labels: binoculars, Moon, Occultation, telescope, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 2:22 am 0 comments

Evening sky on Thursday, June 1 as seen from Adelaide at 18:44 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is on the outskirts of the Beehive cluster (M44). The inset is the binocular view of Mars and the cluster. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).	Mars and M44 on 2 June, 18:42 ACST. 10 degree field of view. Simulated in Stellarium.	Mars and M44 on 3 June, 18:42 ACST. 10 degree field of view. Simulated in Stellarium.

From Thursday 1 June to Saturday 3 June, Mars crosses the Beehive cluster (M44). Under dark skies this delightful open cluster looks like a faint nebulous patch, but binoculars or a telescope will reveal it's wonderful starry mass. 

While in principle seeing Mars in the heart of the beehive is possible with the unaided eye, This is far better seen with binoculars or a small telescope, On the 1st Mars on on the outskirts of the cluster, and on the 2nd and 3rd it is in the heart of the cluster. The cluster fits neatly into medium power telescope eyepiece fields. On the days leading up to the crossing and a couple of days after, Mars and the cluster are in the same binocular field.

The sight is best at Astronomical twilight, and hour and a half after sunset, much later than this and the beehive gets too close to the horizon to be seen clearly. Mars is not so bright that it will drown out the clusters dimmer starts, so this will be a nice opportunity for some astrophotography.

Labels: Beehive cluster, binocular, Mars, telescope

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:11 pm 0 comments

The First Quarter Moon is Sunday, May 28. Saturn is now rising just after local midnight and is high in the morning sky above the pair of Jupiter and Mercury. Venus is prominent in the late evening twilight. On the 25th Venus, Mars and the crescent Moon form a line. On the 30th Venus forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux. On June 1 Mars is on the outskirts of the Beehive open cluster.

The First Quarter Moon is Sunday, May 28. The Moon is at Apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on the 26th.

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

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

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (80 minutes after sunset).

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

Whole sky on Saturday, May 27 as seen from Adelaide at 18:43 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon and Venus is setting in the west.The waxing Moon is high above the northern horizon.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 1:48 am 0 comments

The New Moon is Saturday, May 20. Saturn is now high in the morning sky above the pair of Jupiter and Mercury. The thin crescent Moon forms a triangle with Jupiter and Mercury in the morning sky on the 18th. Venus is prominent in the late evening twilight. On the 23rd Venus and the thin crescent Moon are close. Bright Mars forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux at the beginning of the week. On the 24th Venus, the crescent Moon and Mars form a triangle. On the 25th Venus, Mars and the crescent Moon form a line.

The New Moon is Saturday, May 20.

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

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

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

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

Whole sky on Saturday, May 20 as seen from Adelaide at 18:46 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon and Venus is setting in the west.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:52 pm 0 comments

The Last Quarter Moon is Friday, May 12. Saturn is climbing in the morning sky and is close to the waning moon on the 14th. The thin crescent Moon forms a triangle with Jupiter and Mercury in the morning sky on the 18th. Venus is prominent in the evening twilight. Venus leaves Taurus and enters Gemini, and is close to eta Geminorum on the 17th. Bright Mars forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux.

The Last Quarter Moon is Friday, May 12.The moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the earth, on the 11th.

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

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

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

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

Whole sky on Saturday, May 13 as seen from Adelaide at 18:50 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon and Venus is setting in the west.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:20 pm 0 comments

 Morning sky on Saturday May 6 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 02:52 ACST. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen). Note the subtle darkening of the Moon in the inset.

On the morning of May 6 there is a penumbral eclipse of the Moon, where the Moon glides through the outer segment of the shadow cast by Earth. There will be a faint, but visible, darkening of the Moons northern regions.

Unfortunately, this all occurs in the early morning, so you will need to get up in the early hours to see it. However, to eclipse aficionados the subtle darkening of the Moons bright light to a pearly glow is quiet beautiful. It is also the morning of the eta Aquariid meteor shower peak, so you can combine the two events if your are careful about your night vision.

The table below shows the time of the eclipse from Eastern, Central and Western Australia.

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:31 am 1 comments

 Morning sky on Saturday May 6 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 02:52 ACST. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen). Note the subtle darkening of the Moon in the inset.

The May edition of Southern Skywatch is now up.  

The planetary action is now shifting to the morning skies, although Venus and Mars are prominent and bright in the evening skies. Mercury returns to the morning twilight but will be good viewing this month. Saturn climbs higher in the morning sky. Jupiter climbs higher the morning twilight late in the month. Eta Aquariid meteor shower and penumbral eclipse of the Moon.

May 6; Full Moon (penumbral eclipse) and eta Aquariid meteor shower in the morning. May 8-10, Venus close to open cluster M35. May 11; Moon at perigee. May 12; Last Quarter Moon. May 14; the crescent moon near Saturn in the morning twilight. May 16 - 17; Venus is very close to the star epsilon Geminorum. May 18; Mercury, the thin crescent Moon and Jupiter from a triangle. May 20; New Moon. May 23; the crescent Moon is close to Venus in the evening. May 24; the crescent Moon forms a triangle with Venus and Mars. May 25; the Moon is near Mars. May 26; apogee Moon. May 28; First Quarter Moon. May 31; Mars is on the outskirts of the Beehive cluster.

Mercury enters the morning sky and is best seen from mid-month. On the 18th Mercury, the thin crescent Moon and Jupiter from a triangle.  On the 29th it is at its furthest from the sun, and will be easy to see above the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise, below Jupiter.

  Venus climbs yet higher in the evening sky this month; the low angle of the ecliptic means it never gets really high but it is now prominent at astronomical twilight, when the sky is full dark. Venus has two close encounters this month. Venus moves from Taurus into Gemini this month. From the 9th to 10th Venus is close to the open cluster M35, an excellent sight in binoculars. On the 16th and 17th Venus is very close to the star epsilon Geminorum. On the 23rd Venus will be just 3° from the crescent moon, making a nice binocular sight. On the 30th Venus is only 20 arc minutes from the double star Kappa Geminorum. Venus currently looks like a half Moon.

Mars is well past opposition this Month but is easily visible, Mars is shrinking in telescopic view, Mars now leaves Gemini and enters Cancer, on the 31st Mars is on the outskirts of the Beehive cluster M44, a very nice binocular sight. On the 24th Mars, Venus and the waxing moon form a triangle.

Jupiter climbs higher the morning twilight but will be best seen from around mid-month. On the 18th Mercury, the thin crescent Moon and Jupiter from a triangle.

Saturn climbs higher in the morning skies and is now readily visible an hour and a half  before sunrise. On the 14th Saturn is 3 degrees from crescent moon in the morning skies. On the 28th the maximum amount of shadow will be cast on Saturn’s rings, giving them a 3D appearance.

Labels: southern skywatch

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:34 pm 0 comments

The Full Moon is Saturday, May 6, with a penumbral Lunar eclipse on the morning of the 6th. Saturn is climbing in the morning sky. Venus is prominent in the evening twilight and starts the week making a triangle with Elnath and Zeta Taurii, the stars that make the horns of the Bull. Bright Mars forms a triangle with the bright stars Castor and Pollux and on the10th they form a line. Eta Aquariids meteor shower starts and peaks on the weekend.

The Full Moon is Saturday, May 6, with a penumbral Lunar eclipse in the morning .

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

 Evening sky on Tuesday, May 9 as seen from Adelaide at 18:23ACST, (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus is close to the open cluster M25.  The binocular view is shown in the inset.

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

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

The eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks on the late evening/early morning of  5-7 May in Australia, however the rising Moon reduces the rates on these dates, the 5th and 6th are a reasonable nights for viewing with about a meteor every six minutes. For more details see my eta Aqauriid viewing page. 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time. 

Whole sky on Saturday, April 6 as seen from Adelaide at 18:55 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon and Venus is setting in the west.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:18 pm 0 comments

Again the Full Moon will cause significant interference this year. When choosing a viewing location, find one that blocks ot direct views of the Moon. There s also a penumbral lunar eclipse on the 6th, but the subtle darkening will not be enough to make more meteors appear.

People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 8 minutes, and in the country about once every 6 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 4:00 am above). The radiant is close to Saturn, which makes a good reference point.

Weather prediction looks like cloud except for some sections of the est coast.

You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 40 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.

In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality? 

The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 6-8 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 8 minutes should be possible. 

Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.

Town	Morning May 5	Morning May 6	Morning May 7
Adelaide	10 meteors/hr	8 meteors/hr	6 meteors/hr
Brisbane	11 meteors/hr	82 meteors/hr	6 meteors/hr
Darwin	12 meteors/hr	9 meteors/hr	6 meteors/hr
Perth	11 meteors/hr	8 meteors/hr	6 meteors/hr
Melbourne	10 meteors/hr	8 meteors/hr	6 meteors/hr
Hobart	9 meteors/hr	7 meteors/hr	5 meteors/hr
Sydney	11 meteors/hr	8 meteors/hr	6 meteors/hr

The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.

Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Saturn as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 4:00 am above).

Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 6 to 8 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.

Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold.  A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site).  The Milky way will arch above you, with Saturn just next to the radiant.

Use the NASA  meteor shower flux estimator for an estimate of what the shower will be like from your location (you may need to enter your longitude and latitude, surprisingly, while Adelaide and Brisbane are hard-wired in, Sydney and Melbourne are not). See the image to the left for typical output. The peak is rather sharp.

Unfortunately, both Chrome and Firefox have changed their security settings to prevent plugins from running, and the flux estimator only runs under Internet Explorer, or the internet explorer tab under Edge, now.

You need to choose 31 Eta Aquariids and remember to set the date to  5-6 or 7-8 May 2023 and turn off daylight saving time. You can follow the progress of the shower at the IMO live Aquariid site.

Guides for taking meteor photos are here and here.

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: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:40 pm 0 comments