Astroblog: Thursday August 3 to Thursday August 10

Tuesday, August 01, 2023

Thursday August 3 to Thursday August 10

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday, August 8. Saturn is now rising around 7:30 pm local time. Jupiter is prominent in the morning sky and is close to the moon on the 8th and 9th. Venus low in the evening twilight but is rapidly heading towards the horizon. Telescopically Venus rapidly increases in size and its crescent is wire thin. Mercury is now prominent in the twilight and comes closer to Mars.

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday, August 8.

Evening sky on Saturday, August 5 as seen from Adelaide at 21:00 ACST, Saturn is above the eastern horizon. 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 Wednesday, August 9 as seen from Adelaide at 05:37 ACST, (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Jupiter is above the horizon near the Hyades and Pleiades. The crescent Moon is between Jupiter and the 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 Saturday, August 5 as seen from Adelaide at 18:18 ACST, 45 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Venus is sinking towards the horizon. Mercury is closing in on Mars. 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 (45 minutes after sunset).

Whole sky on Saturday, August 5 as seen from Adelaide at 19:03 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible low above the north western horizon close to Mercury.

Scorpius and Sagittarius are 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 waning it will be easier to see them.

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

Mercury is now prominent in the twilight and comes closer to Mars.

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 and is close to the moon on the 8th and 9th

Saturn is now rising around 7:30 pm local time.

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