Astroblog: Thursday March7 to Thursday March 14

Monday, March 04, 2024

Thursday March7 to Thursday March 14

The New Moon is Sunday March 10. Jupiter is low in the north-western sky but still dominates the early evening sky. On the 14th the crescent Moon is near Jupiter. Venus is visible in the morning twilight below Mars. On the 8th the crescent Moon, Mars and Venus form a line, on the 9th the thin crescent Moon is close to Venus, Mars continues to climb away from Venus as the week progresses.

The New Moon is Sunday March 10. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 10th as well.

Evening sky on Thursday, March 14 as seen from Adelaide at 20:30 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset). Jupiter is low above the north-western horizon and near to the crescent Moon. The inset is the telescopic view at this time.

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

Morning sky on Friday, March 8 as seen from Adelaide at 06:13 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Venus and Mars and the crescent Moon form a line. The inset in the approximate 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).

Morning sky on Saturday, March 9 as seen from Adelaide at 06:14 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars and Venus are close, but get progressively further apart over the week. The thin crescent Moon is close to Venus and can be seen together in binoculars. The inset in the approximate binocular view of Venus and the Moon 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, March 10 as seen from Adelaide at 21:08 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Jupiter is low in the north-west.

Orion is almost due north. Bright Sirius is high in the eastern sky. Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are a wealth of binocular objects to discover. With the Moon new, this is an excellent time to hunt the fainter clusters.

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

Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus is in the morning twilight, it is sinking towards the horizon but will remain visible for all of March. Mars and Venus draw further apart. On the 8th the crescent Moon, Mars and Venus form a line, on the 9th the thin crescent Moon is close to Venus

Mars is rising in the morning twilight and moving away from Venus.

Jupiter is visible low in the early evening sky. On the 14th the crescent Moon is near Jupiter.

Saturn is lost in the twilight.

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