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/