Astroblog: Thursday August 29 to Thursday September 5

Monday, August 26, 2024

Thursday August 29 to Thursday September 5

The New Moon is Tuesday, September 3. Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight, the thin crescent Moon is very close to Venus on September 5. Saturn is rising in the twilight, and is a decent telescopic object in the late evening. Mars and Jupiter continue to draw apart as Mars passes between the tips the horns of Taurus the Bull. The crescent Moon forms a line with Aldebaran, Jupiter and Mars on August 29.

The New Moon is Tuesday, September 3.

Western evening sky on Thursday, September 5 as seen from Adelaide at 18:55 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is readily visible now and is now visible when the sky is fully dark.The crescent Moon is very close to Venus. The inset is the binocular view of the pair at the time. The pair will also be visible in low power telescope eye pieces.

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

The eastern sky at 19:20 ACST Saturday, August 31 (90 minutes after sunset) with Saturn now reasonably high above the horizon. It is still best for telescopic viewing in the late evening.

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 (90 minutes after sunset).

Morning sky on Thursday, August 29 as seen from Adelaide at 05:44 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise), Mars and Jupiter are close below the red star Aldebaran. The crescent Moon forms a line with Aldebaran, Jupiter and Mars.

The inset is the telescope view of the Jupiter at this time.

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 31 as seen from Adelaide at 19:20 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Saturn is just peeking over the eastern horizon as Venus sets on the western horizon. Scorpius is moving off the zenith with the heart of the milky way now at the zenith. The Southern Cross is still prominent low in the Southern sky. Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are a wealth of binocular objects to discover.

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

Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus climbs higher in the evening twilight and is readily visible in the evening twilight. The crescent Moon is close to Venus on September 5.

Mars is rising in the morning sky and near Jupiter. The pair continue to draw apart as Mars passes between the tips the horns of Taurus the Bull. The crescent Moon forms a line with Aldebaran, Jupiter and Mars on August 29.

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: weekly sky