Astroblog: Thursday December 21 to Thursday December 28

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Thursday December 21 to Thursday December 28

The Full Moon is Wednesday, December 27. Earth is at Solstice on the 22nd. Saturn is now in the west when twilight ends. Jupiter is highest around nautical twilight and is now well visible in the evening sky. Jupiter is close to the waxing moon on the 22nd. Venus is visible in the morning twilight.The Asteroid Vesta is at opposition on the 22nd and will be visible in binoculars.

The Full Moon is Wednesday, December 27. Earth is at Solstice, when the day is longest, on December 22.

Evening sky on Saturday, December 23 as seen from Adelaide at 22:17 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), Saturn is above the western 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 Friday, December 22 as seen from Adelaide at 22:16 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset). Jupiter is close to the waxing Moon. 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 after sunset).

Evening sky on Friday, December 22 as seen from Adelaide at 22:16 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset). Asteroid Vesta is at apposition in Orion. The inset is the binocular view of Vesta at this time. At magnitude 6.6 it will be an easy binocular object near clear guide stars. More details and charts are at my Vesta page.

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

Morning sky on Saturday, December 23 as seen from Adelaide at 04:53 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Venus is beginning to lower in the morning twilight and is heading towards Scorpius. 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, December 23 as seen from Adelaide at 22:17 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Saturn is setting in the north-west, and Jupiter is high in the north.

Sagittarius is almost set. Orion is rising in the east.

Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to discover.

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

Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus is high in the morning twilight, it will now sink towards the horizon but will remain easily visible for all of November.

Mars is lost in the twilight.

Jupiter is highest around nautical twilight and is now well visible in the late evening sky.Jupiter is close to the waxing Moon on the 22nd,

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