Astroblog: Thursday October 12 to Thursday October 19

Monday, October 09, 2023

Thursday October 12 to Thursday October 19

The New Moon is Sunday, October 15. Saturn is visible in the evening sky. Saturn is past opposition, but still bright and a good telescope object. Saturn is highest in the northern evening sky around 10 pm local time. Jupiter is rising well before midnight but is still best in the morning sky. Venus is high in the morning twilight and is leaving the star Regulus behind. The crescent Moon is close to the bright star Antares on the 18th.

The New Moon is Sunday, October 15.

Evening sky on Saturday, October 14 as seen from Adelaide at 20:57 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), Saturn is above the north-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 (90 minutes after sunset).

Evening sky on Wednesday, October 18 as seen from Adelaide at 21:00 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), The Moon is in the body of Scorpius not far from Antares. The inset is the approximate binocular view at this time.

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

Evening sky on Saturday, October 14 as seen from Adelaide at 23:00 ACDST. Jupiter is above the horizon. 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 (an hour before local midnight).

Morning sky on Saturday, October 14 as seen from Adelaide at 05:39 ACDST, (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).

Whole sky on Saturday, Saturday, October 14 as seen from Adelaide at 20:57 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Saturn is in the north east.

Scorpius and Sagittarius are readily visible below the zenith.

Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to discover. The New Moon is an excellent time to explore these.

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

Mercury is lost in the morning twilight.

Venus is high and is leaving the bright star Regulus behind.

Mars is lost in the twilight.

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.

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