Thursday April 11 to Thursday April 18

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday, April 16. Jupiter is very low in the north-western twilight sky and is near the crescent Moon on the 11th. Comet 12P Pons-Brooks may be visible near Jupiter on the 14 and willl progressively climb higher over the week. In the morning Mars and Saturn spectacularly close on the 11th.Venus is barely visible low in the morning twilight below the pair. 

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday, April 16. 

Evening sky on Thursday, April 11 as seen from Adelaide at 18:51 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter is low above the north-western horizon and within binocular distance of  Uranus. Jupiter will also be not far from the thin crescent Moon and the comet 12P.

While the comet is a reasonable bright magnitude 4, it is so low to the horizon that you will be unlikely to see it through the horizon murk. You will have to wait for next week for the chance of a decent view. 

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

Evening sky on Sunday, April 14 as seen from Adelaide at 18:48 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter is very low above the north-western horizon and within binocular distance of Uranus and the comet 12P (the inset is the approximate binocular view of the trio).

While the comet is a reasonable bright magnitude 4, it is so low to the horizon that you will be difficult to see it through the horizon murk. You will definitely need binoculars. Over the week the comet will climb higher above the horizon murk and should be early located in binoculars by sweeping up from Jupiter.

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

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time. 

 

Morning sky on Thursday, April 11 as seen from Adelaide at 05:41 ACST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars and Saturn are at their closest and can be seen in a medium power telescope eyepiece. Venus is below Mars and Saturn. You may need a low level horizon to see Venus at its best. 

 

The inset is the medium powers telescopic view of Mars and Saturn 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, April 13 as seen from Adelaide at 05:43 ACST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars and Saturn are pulling apart as Saturn climbs higher. Venus is now very low on the horizon and difficult to see.

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time.

Whole sky on Saturday, Saturday, April 13 as seen from Adelaide at 20:27 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Orion is now in the north-west. Bright Sirius is high in  the north-western sky. Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are a wealth of binocular objects to discover. As the Moon waxes , the fainter clusters will begin to dim.

 

 

   

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

 

 

Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus is very low in the morning twilight, it is sinking towards the horizon and will be lost in the twilight by the end of the Month. Mars and Saturn draw away from Venus.

Mars is rising in the morning twilight and moving away from Venus.  Mars and Saturn  come closer to each other being closest on the 11th.

Jupiter is visible very low in the early evening twilight sky. It is coming closer to Uranus and is within binocular distance of Uranus. On the 14th it will be close to comet 12P Pons-Brooks.

Saturn climbs higher in the morning twilight. Mars and Saturn  are  closest on the 11th. Then Saturn draws away from Mars.

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/