Astroblog: Thursday July 27 to Thursday August 3

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Thursday July 27 to Thursday August 3

The Full Moon is Wednesday, August 2. This is a perigee ("super") Moon. Saturn is now rising around 8:00 pm local time. On the 3rd the Moon is very close to Saturn. Jupiter is prominent in the morning sky. Venus is prominent in the evening twilight but is rapidly heading towards the horizon. Telescopically Venus rapidly increases in size and its crescent thins. On the 29th, Mercury is very close to the star Regulus. This is an excellent time to catch this fleet planet.

The Full Moon is Wednesday, August 2. This is a perigee ("super") Moon, where the Moon is at its closest to Earth.

Evening sky on Thursday, August 3 as seen from Adelaide at 21:00 ACST, Saturn is above the eastern horizon close to the Moon. The inset is the telescopic view of Saturn at this time.

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

Morning sky on Saturday, July 29 as seen from Adelaide at 05:46 ACST, (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Jupiter is above the horizon near the Hyades and Pleiades. The inset is the telescopic view of Jupiter at this time.

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

Evening sky on Friday, July 21 as seen from Adelaide at 18:29 ACST, 60 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Venus is sinking towards the horizon. Mercury and the bright star Regulus are at their closest with Mars above. The insets are the telescopic view of Venus and Mercury at this time.

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

Evening sky on Wednesday, August 2 as seen from Adelaide at 18:32 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). The Full Moon is just above the horizon, official full moon was at 5:00am on the 2nd and Perigee at 16:00.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, July 29 as seen from Adelaide at 18:59 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible above the north western horizon above the bright star Regulus and Venus is just below.

Scorpius is readily visible near the zenith.

Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to discover. With the Moon near full it will difficult to see them.

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

Mercury climbs higher in the evening twilight. On the 29th, Mercury is very close to the star Regulus.

Venus is falling back towards the horizon.

Mars is leaving Regulus and Venus behind, Mercury is coming closer for a meeting later in the month.

Jupiter is prominent in the morning sky.

Saturn is now rising around 8:00 pm local time. On the 3rd the Moon is very close to Saturn.

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