Thursday July 25 to Thursday August 1

The Last Quarter Moon is Sunday, July 28. Mercury is visible in the evening twilight, with Venus low on the horizon below. Mercury starts the week close to the bright star Regulus, and during the week  Venus rises toward Regulus too. Saturn enters the evening sky around 9:30 pm, but is still best in the morning. On the 30th the crescent Moon forms a line with Mars and Aldebaran, with Jupiter below. The 30th also sees the Moon occult the Pleiades and 30-31st is the Southern Delta-Aquarids meteor shower. On the 31st Mars, the thin crescent Moon and Jupiter form a diamond with Aldebaran.

The Last Quarter Moon is Sunday, July 28.  

Western evening sky on Thursday, July 25 as seen from Adelaide at 18:01 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 is at its closest to the bright star Regulus.

Venus is low on the horizon.

 

 

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

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).

Morning sky on Tuesday, July 30  as seen from Adelaide at 05:10 ACST. Mars and Jupiter are readily visible. Mars is coming closer to Jupiter and forms a triangle the red star Aldebaran. 

 

The Moon is just beginning to cover (occult) the Pleiades. The inset shows the binocular view at this time. 

The following night, the 31st Mars, the thin crescent Moon and Jupiter form a diamond with Aldebaran.

 

 

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

The northern sky at 03:00 ACST Wednesday, July 31. The peak of the Southern Delta-Aquarids meteor shower occurs at this time. Viewers should see a meteor roughly every 3 minutes from dark sky locations. The radiant is located just above Saturn.

 

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

 

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

Whole sky on Saturday, July 27 as seen from Adelaide at 18:58 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Scorpius dominates 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 returning with the Moon waning.

 

 

   

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

 

 

Mercury climbs higher in the evening sky, it starts the week close to Regulus  on the 25th. the moves away.

Venus is higher in the evening twilight. It comes closer to Regulus during the week, forming a triangle with Mercury and Regulus by the end of the week.

Mars is rising in the morning sky but is heading towards Jupiter. On the 30th the crescent Moon forms a line with Mars and Aldebaran, with Jupiter below.  On the 31st Mars, the thin crescent Moon and Jupiter form a diamond with Aldebaran.

Jupiter is rising in the the morning twilight sky. Jupiter is below the red star Aldebaran. On the 30th the crescent Moon forms a line with Mars and Aldebaran, with Jupiter below.  On the 31st Mars, the thin crescent Moon and Jupiter form a diamond with 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/