Astroblog: Thursday June 27 to Thursday July 4

Monday, June 24, 2024

Thursday June 27 to Thursday July 4

The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday, June 29. Mercury is visible in the evening twilight. Saturn enters the evening sky around midnight, but is still best in the morning. On the 27th there is an occultation of Saturn low on the eastern horizon near midnight. In a telescope Saturn's famous rings are almost edge on. In the morning the lineup of planets is Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. Jupiter is between the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster. The crescent Moon is near Mars on the 2nd and Jupiter on the 3rd.

The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday, June 29. The moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 27th.

Western evening sky on Saturday, June 29 as seen from Adelaide at 17:42 ACST (30 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Mercury is above the western horizon at the end of civil twilight, you may need a clear, unobstructed horizon and binoculars to see it.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (30 minutes after sunset).

Morning sky on Wednesday, July 3 as seen from Adelaide at 06:25 ACST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Saturn and Mars are readily visible. Jupiter is between the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster with the crescent moon close by.

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

The Moon at 23:47pm AEST in Brisbane looking east on Thursday 27 June just as Saturn reappears. The inset shows the binocular view as Saturn reappears (click to embiggen).

Saturn is just emerging from behind the dark limb of the Moon.

Similar views will be seen from east coast, and some southern central Australia at a similar time.Detailed times and spotters charts are at my occultation site.

Whole sky on Saturday, June 29 as seen from Adelaide at 18:45 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Bright Sirius is still dominant low in the north-western sky in the early evening. Scorpius now well visible above the Eastern horizon. The Southern Cross is prominent in the Southern sky. Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are a wealth of binocular objects to discover. The fainter clusters are now visible with the Moon rising late.

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

Mercury returns to the evening twilight

Venus is lost in the twilight.

Mars is rising in the morning sky. The crescent Moon is near Mars on the 2nd.

Jupiter is rising in the the morning twilight sky. Jupiter is between the red star Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster. The crescent Moon is near Jupiter on the 3rd.

Saturn climbs higher in the morning sky. Saturn is occulted by the Moon on the 27th.

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