Astroblog: Thursday December 26 to Thursday January 2

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Thursday December 26 to Thursday January 2

The New Moon is Tuesday December 31. In the evening Venus is coming closer to Saturn. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mars are visible all together (briefly) in the evening sky. On the 2nd the thin crescent Moon, Venus and Saturn form a line. Jupiter is past opposition and is visible all night long. In the morning Mars and Jupiter continue to draw apart. On the 29th Mercury is below the thin crescent Moon in the morning twilight.

The New Moon is Tuesday December 31.

Western evening sky on Thursday, January 2 as seen from Adelaide at 21:39 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 28 as seen from Adelaide at 22:18 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 Saturday, December 28 as seen from Adelaide at 4:56 ACDST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars is coming closer to Castor and Pollux.

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

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

Eastern sky on Sunday, December 29 as seen from Adelaide at 5:12 ACDST (45 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mercury is below the thin crescent Moon.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (45 minutes before sunrise).

Whole sky on Saturday, December 28 as seen from Adelaide at 22:33 ACDST, 105 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Mars is just rising in the east. Jupiter is rising in the north-east. Saturn is now above the north-western horizon and coming closer to Venus. Venus is just setting. Orion the hunter now high in the north-east. The Southern Cross isrising 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 (105 minutes after sunset).

Mercury is low in the morning twilight. On the 29th Mercury is below the thin crescent Moon.

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 evening sky but is still better in the morning.

Jupiter is rising in the the evening sky when the sky is fully dark and was at opposition, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the December 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