Saturday, January 06, 2024
Coming Events: A Year of Southern Astronomy for 2024
The table below shows significant astronomical events that can be seen with the unaided eye or minimal equipment in 2024 in Australia (and to some degree elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, ocultations and eclipses are very region specific).
This year we get a Penumbral Lunar eclipse best visible from eastern Australia. We get multiple occultations of Saturn (some daylight only). A couple of occultations of the Pleiades, and an occultation of the bright star Antares (only visible western and central Australia). There are good oppositions of Jupiter and Saturn. Mars is at opposition in January 2025 but we get a good run up to it. We also get a comet in September/October, C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which may be a fizzer but just might be spectacular.
As well we have some fantastic parings and lineups and good meteor showers.
Close pairings of the Moon and bright planets are given special
attention as not only is the Moon a ready guide to locating the planets
if you are not familiar with them, these massings are rather beautiful.
Special events are bolded.
| Date | Event |
| January | |
| 03 January 2024 | Earth at Perihelion |
| 09 January 2024 | Crescent Moon near Venus in morning twilight. |
| 10 January 2024 | Crescent Moon near Mercury in morning twilight. |
| 14 January 2024 | Crescent Moon close to Saturn in evening twilight. |
| 18 January 2024 | First Quarter Moon near Jupiter in evening. |
| 20 January 2024 | Occultation of the Pleiades (Perth best from 21:14 AWST, also Adelaide, Darwin good, just 17 Tau, Brisbane, Hobart, Sydney) |
| 28 January 2024 | Mars and Mercury very close (0.2° apart) |
| February | |
| 08 February 2024 | Venus near crescent Moon in morning (5° apart) |
| 9 February 2024 | Mercury near crescent Moon in morning (~5° apart) |
| 11 February 2024 | Thin Crescent Moon and Saturn close low in the evening twilight (5° apart) |
| 15 February 2024 | waxing Moon near Jupiter in the evening (4° apart) |
| 21-24 February 2024 | Venus and Mars around 1° apart in the morning twilight. |
| 25 February 2024 | Apogee (mini) Full Moon |
| March | |
| 9 March 2024 | Venus close to thin crescent Moon (3° apart) low in morning twilight |
| 1-9 March 2024 | Mercury within 5° or Venus in morning twilight |
| 13-14 March 2024 | Crescent Moon near Jupiter in evening twilight |
| 20 March 2024 | Earth at Equinox |
| 22 March 2024 | Saturn very close to Venus (0.6° apart), very difficult low in the morning twilight |
| 25 March 2024 | Apogee (mini) Full Moon |
| 25 March 2024 | Penumbral Lunar Eclipse |
| April | |
| 6-7 April 2024 | Crescent Moon brackets Mars and Saturn in the morning twilight. |
| 8 April 2024 | Crescent Moon and Venus close low in the morning twilight |
| 11 April 2024 | Saturn and Mars spectacularly close (0.4° apart) in morning sky. |
| 10-11 April 2024 | Crescent Moon near Jupiter in the evening twilight |
| 19 April 2024 | Mercury and Venus close low in the morning twilight (difficult, requires binoculars and a level horizon) |
| May | |
| 04 May 2024 | Daytime occultation of Saturn (east coast from around 9 am) |
| 05 May 2024 | Early Morning occultation of Neptune (east coast from around 4 am) |
| 05 May 2024 | Crescent Moon very close to Mars (0.3° apart) in morning twilight. |
| 6-7 May 2024 | Eta Aquariid meteor shower |
| 06 May 2024 | Crescent Moon near Mercury in the morning twilight |
| June | |
| 03 June 2024 | Mars near to thin crescent Moon (3° apart) in morning sky. |
| 4-5 June 2024 | Jupiter and Mercury close (3° apart) low in morning twilight (binocular event) |
| 21 June 2024 | Earth at solstice |
| 27 June 2023 | Saturn is occulted by the moon just after 23:00, low on the eastern horizon (eastern states and SA) |
| July | |
| 2 July 2024 | Mars near crescent Moon (5° apart) in morning sky. |
| 3 July 2024 | Jupiter near crescent moon in the morning sky, at this time Jupiter forms a second eye for Taurus the Bull being 6° from the other eye, bright red Aldebaran) |
| 5 July 2024 | Earth at aphelion, waning Moon near Saturn in the morning sky. |
| 8 July 2024 | Thin crescent moon near Mercury (6° apart) low in evening twilight |
| 16 July 2024 | Mars and Uranus very close (0.5° apart) in the morning sky. |
| 24 July 2024 | Saturn near waning Moon (5° apart) in the evening sky |
| 25 July 2024 | Mercury near Regulus (6° apart) in the evening twilight. |
| 29-30 July 2024 | Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower in morning |
| 30 July 2024 | Occultation of Pleiades (from around 5 am local time on). |
| 31 July 2024 | Jupiter near crescent moon (6° apart) in morning sky. |
| August | |
| 06 August 2024 | Mercury, Venus and crescent Moon form a triangle to the evening twilight |
| 15 August 2024 | Jupiter and Mars very close (0.3° apart) in morning sky |
| 20-21 August 2024 | The Moon brackets Saturn. |
| 28 August 2024 | Jupiter, Mars, the waning Moon and the bright Star Elnath form a triangle in the morning sky |
| September | |
| 05 September 2024 | Venus close (1° apart) to thin crescent Moon in the evening sky at the end of twilight |
| 08 September 2024 | Saturn at Opposition |
| 09 September 2024 | Mars close (1° apart) to open cluster M35 |
| 10 September 2024 | Occultation of bright star Antares, west, central North (Perth, Darwin, Alice Springs) everywhere else sees a close approach or graze low to the horizon |
| 17 September 2024 | Perigee ("super") Moon near Saturn, occultation in Northern Australia in late twilight (Brisbane, Alice Springs Darwin), close everywhere else. |
| 18 September 2024 | Venus close (3° apart) to the bright star Spica |
| 22 September 2024 | Earth at Equinox |
| 24 September 2024 | Moon near Jupiter in morning sky |
| 26 September 2024 | Moon near Mars in morning sky |
| 09-27 September 2024 | C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be visible low in the morning twilight, if it hasn't broken up, it may be quite bright. |
| October | |
| 5-62 October 2024 | Venus bracketed by thin crescent Moon |
| 13 October on 2024 | C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be visible low in the evening twilight, rapidly rising higher in the evening sky, if it hasn't broken up, it may be quite bright, even visible to the unaided eye. Venus keeps pace with the comet. |
| 14 October 2024 | Saturn close (5° apart) to the Moon in the evening sky. |
| 21-22 October 2024 | Moon brackets Jupiter in the morning sky. |
| 21-22 October 2024 | Orionid meteor shower, last quarter Moon interferes. |
| 25 October 2024 | Crescent Moon near Mars (5° apart), Moon very close to bight star Pollux in morning sky |
| 26-27 October 2024 | Venus close to the bright red star Antares in evening sky. |
| November | |
| 3 November 2024 | Mercury close to thin crescent Moon (2° apart) in evening sky |
| 5 November 2024 | Crescent Moon near Venus (2° apart) in evening sky sky |
| 10 November 2024 | Mercury close to bright red star Antares (2° apart) in evening sky |
| 11 November 2024 | Waxing Moon near Saturn (5° apart) in the evening sky |
| 14 November 2024 | Possible early burst of Leonid meteors, moonlight interference |
| 17 November 2024 | Waxing Moon near Jupiter in the evening sky |
| 18/19 November 2024 | Leonid Meteor Shower, significant Moon interference. |
| 17 November 2024 | Waxing Moon near Jupiter in the evening sky, opposition of Uranus |
| 21 November 2024 | Waxing Moon near Mars (5° apart) in the evening sky |
| 30 November 2024 | Mars close to Beehive cluster (2° apart) in the evening sky. |
| December | |
| 5 December 2024 | Venus near crescent Moon (5° apart) in the evening sky |
| 8 December 2024 | Saturn very close to waxing Moon, daytime occultation in Northern Australia (5:30 pm Darwin) |
| 8 December 2024 | Opposition of Jupiter |
| 14/15 December 2024 | Geminid Meteor shower in the morning, significant Moon interference |
| 14 December 2023 | Waxing Moon near Jupiter (5° apart) in the evening sky |
| 18 December 2024 | Mars near waning Moon in the evening sky |
| 21 December 2023 | Earth is at Solstice |
| 29 December 2024 | Mercury near Moon (6° apart) low in the twilight morning sky |
Labels: Asteroid, Conjunction, eclipse, Jupiter, Mars, Moon, Opposition, Saturn, unaided eye, Venus, Yearly Sky Events
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:31 pm 
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Hello
A .pdf of the table would be handy so it can be downloaded and/or printed. Regards, Iain
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A .pdf of the table would be handy so it can be downloaded and/or printed. Regards, Iain
# posted by 
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