Astroblog: Thursday September 21 to Thursday September 28

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Thursday September 21 to Thursday September 28

The First Quarter Moon is Saturday September 23. Mars is low in twilight. Saturn is visible in the evening sky and is close to the Moon on the 27th. Saturn is past opposition, but still bright and a good telescope object. Jupiter is is rising before midnight but is still best in the morning sky making a wide triangle with the Pleiades and Hyades. Venus climbs higher the morning twilight. Comet 2023 P1 (Nishimura) may be visible low in the twilight.

The First Quarter Moon is Saturday September 23. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to Earth, on the 28th.

Evening sky on Wednesday, September 27 as seen from Adelaide at 19:41 ACST (90 minutes after sunset), Saturn is above the eastern horizon near the waxing 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 (90 minutes after sunset).

Morning sky on Saturday, September 23 as seen from Adelaide at 04:40 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).

Morning sky on Saturday, September 23 as seen from Adelaide at 05:10 ACST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Venus is rising higher in the morning twilight. The inset is the telescopic view of Venus at this time.

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

Evening sky on Saturday, September 23 as seen from Adelaide at 19:07 ACST, 60 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is low above the horizon. Comet 2023 P1 (Nishimura) may be seen in binoculars below Mars if it survives its passage around the Sun.

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

Evening sky on Saturday, September 23 as seen from Adelaide at 18:38 ACST, 30 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is low above the horizon. Comet 2023 P1 (Nishimura) may be seen in binoculars below Mars if it survives its passage around the Sun. Printable spotters charts are here.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (30 minutes after sunset).

Whole sky on Saturday, Saturday, September 23 as seen from Adelaide at 19:37 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Saturn is rising in the east.

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.The waxing Moon will make the fainter objects hard to see though.

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

Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus climbs higher the morning twilight.

Mars is dimming, and coming closer to the horizon. Comet 2023 P1 (Nishimura) may be seen in binoculars below Mars if it survives its passage around the Sun.

Jupiter is rising before midnight but is still prominent in the morning sky.

Saturn is past opposition, but is still bright and a worthwhile telescopic object. Saturn is close to the Moon on the 27th.

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