Astroblog: Thursday December 19 to Thursday December 26

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Thursday December 19 to Thursday December 26

The Last Quarter Moon is Monday December 23. Earth is at solstice on the 21st. In the evening Venus is coming closer to Saturn. Jupiter , Saturn and Venus are visible in the evening sky. Jupiter is just past opposition and is visible all night long. In the morning Mars and Jupiter continue to draw apart. Mars is close to the Moon on the morning of the 19th.

The Last Quarter Moon is Monday December 23.The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the earth, on the 24th. Earth is at solstice on the 21st, when the night is shortest.

Western evening sky on Saturday, December 21 as seen from Adelaide at 21:35 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is readily visible from early twilight to when the sky is fully dark. Venus is coming closer to Saturn.

The insets are the telescopic views of Venus and Saturn at this time.

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

North-eastern evening sky on Saturday, December 21 as seen from Adelaide at 22:16 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), Jupiter is rising in the north-east.

The inset is the telescope view of Jupiter at this time. (click to embiggen).

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).

North-western sky on Thursday, December 19 as seen from Adelaide at 4:51 ACDST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen), Mars is near the waning Moon

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

Whole sky on Saturday, December 21 as seen from Adelaide at 22:16 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is rising in the north-east. Saturn is now above the north-western horizon and coming closer to Venus. Orion the hunter is rising in the east. The Southern Cross is low in the Southern sky. The moon is gone and the fainter clusters and nebula are now readily visible.

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. Venus is coming closer to Saturn.

Mars is rising in the morning sky and near Jupiter. The pair continue to draw apart. Mars is close to the Moon on the morning of 19th.

Jupiter is rising in the the evening sky when the sky is fully dark and wss at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 8th.

Saturn is lowering in the evening sky coming closer to Venus.

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