.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

 

Thursday August 1 to Thursday August 8

The New Moon is Sunday, August 4. Mercury is visible in the evening twilight, near Regulus forming a line with Venus. Venus comes closer to Regulus and is closest on the 5th. On the 6th the crescent Moon, Regulus, Mercury and Venus form a triangle in the evening twilight. Saturn enters the evening sky around 8:30 pm, but is still best in the morning. Mars forms a second “Eye” for Taurus the Bull at the beginning of the week and comes closer to Jupiter over the week.

The New Moon is Sunday, August 4.

Western evening sky on Thursday, August 1 as seen from Adelaide at 18:18 ACST (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).   

Mercury is well above the western horizon at the end of civil twilight, and is still visible at astronomical twilight an hour and a half after sunset. Mercury has moved away the bright star Regulus and Venus is coming closer, forming a triangle with Mercury and Regulus.





Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (45 minutes after sunset). 

Western evening sky on Tuesday, August 6 as seen from Adelaide at 18:35ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).   

Mercury is well above the western horizon at the end of civil twilight, although fading it is still visible at astronomical twilight an hour and a half after sunset. Venus is just past its closest to the bright star Regulus. The crescent Moon forms a triangle with the three. 


 

 


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

The eastern sky at 23:00 ACST Saturday, August 3with Saturn rising. Saturn is now reasonably high above the horizon for viewing.

 
The inset shows the telescopic view at the time. (click to embiggen).





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

Morning sky on Saturday, August 3 as seen from Adelaide at 06:11 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise), Mars and Jupiter are readily visible. Mars is coming closer to Jupiter and forms a triangle the red star Aldebaran. 
 

The inset shows the telescopic view at the time. (click to embiggen).



 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).
 
 
Whole sky on Saturday, August 3 as seen from Adelaide at 19:03 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).


Scorpius is nearly at the zenith with the heart of the milky way below it. The Southern Cross is still 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 gone from the sky.

 

 

   

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

 

 

Mercury starts to dim in the evening sky, it starts the week above Regulus, forming a line with Venus.  On the 6th the crescent Moon, Regulus, Mercury and Venus form a triangle in the evening twilight.

Venus is higher in the evening twilight. Venus starts the week forming a triangle with Mercury and Regulus. Venus comes closer to Regulus and is closest on the 5th. On the 6th the crescent Moon, Regulus, Mercury and Venus form a triangle in the evening twilight.

Mars is rising in the morning sky but is heading towards Jupiter.

Jupiter is rising in the the morning twilight sky. Jupiter is below the red star Aldebaran.

Saturn climbs higher in the late evening sky.

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:


# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:10 pm 0 comments

Monday, July 29, 2024

 

Occultation Pleiades 30 July 2024.

Morning sky on Tuesday, July 30 as seen from Adelaide at 5:10 ACST, (click to embiggen). The moon is just about to cover the star Celaeno in the Pleiades. The inset is the binocular view of the moon at this time (click to embiggen).
Morning sky on Tuesday, July 3 as seen from Melbourne at 6:05 AEST, (click to embiggen). The moon is just about to cover the star Taygeta in the Pleiades. The inset is the binocular view of the moon at this time (click to embiggen). Evening sky on Tuesday, July 3 as seen from Perth at 3:03 AWST, (click to embiggen). The moon is just about to cover the star Celaeno in the Pleiades. The inset is the binocular view of the moon at this time.  (click to embiggen).

On the early morning 30th the waning cresent Moon will pass over (occult) some bright stars in the iconic Pleiades cluster. From western Australia and central Australia the most stars will be covered. Eastern states see only one bright star covered.

While potentially visible to the unaided eye, this is best seen with binoculars or a telescope. While a waning crescent, the Moon is still bright enough to wash out all but the brightest members of the Pleiades. Fortunately, for most of Australia at least one of the bright stars in the cluster, Taygeta (19 Tau, mag 4.3) are covered. Perth and the west coast gets the best view, with Darwin, Alice Springs (and places between) and Adelaide being next best. The east coast is in twilight when the moon moves off the Pleiades.

Timings for the covering of Celaeno (16 Tau), Taygeta (19 Tau) and Sterope (21 Tau) are give below for selected cities.  Similar views will be seen at nearby locations (e.g. Fremantle and Perth, Alice Springs and Darwin)


Celaeno DBCelaeno RDTaygeta DDTaygeta RDSterope DBSterope RD
Adelaide ACST
5:105:435:17
6:26
5:43
*-
Brisbane AEST
-
-
-
-
-
-
Canberra AEST
--
6:14*-
-
-
Darwin   ACST
4:386:00
5:26
6:14
5:50
-*
Hobart   AEST
-
-
6:24
6:45
6:47
-
Melbourne AEST
-
-
6:05
*-
6:32
*-
Perth AWST 3:03
4:09
3:264:28
3:47
4:53
Sydney  AEST
-
-
6:19
*-
-
-

DB - disappear bright limb, RD - reappear dark limb.

* Occurs in twilight

It’s best to set up around 30 minutes before the occultation so you can get oriented in the sky and don’t miss the beginning while fussing with equipment. 

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: , , , ,


# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:31 am 0 comments

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?