Astroblog

Black and White chart suitable for downloading and printing (click to embiggen and print). Uranus is at magnitude 5.7 and is visible under dark sky conditions to the unaided eye, but still best in binoculars. Looking North bight Jupiter and Aldebaran are easily visible, below and to the west the Pleiades cluster is also easily seen. Two binocular distances west is the brightish star  delta Arietis and an a distinct triangular formation of stars. Uranus is in the same binocular field as  delta Arietis and the triangle. The circle is the file of view of 10x50 binoclars	Stellarium simulation of the sky appearance of the area covered by the black and white chart. Click to embiggen.	One of my photographs of the area labeled to show Uranus n relation to Aldebaran, Jupiter, the Pleaides, delta Arietis and the triangle.  Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5x zoom, ƒ/2.4 13seconds exposure, 7.9 mm, ISO1600. Click to embiggen.

Whole sky on Saturday, Saturday, February 1 as seen from Adelaide at 21:59 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

The current planetary lineup (Planetary parade), has four easily seen classical planets (Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars. And two difficult to see planets (Uranus, Neptune).

You would need a telescope to see Neptune in the sky under normal circumstance, but it is low in the horizon murk, and not accessible to telescopes at the moment.

Uranus is at magnitude 5.7 and is potentially visible under dark sky conditions to the unaided eye (as humans can see down to magnitude 6.0 with decent eyesight and dark skies), if you know where to look. Binoculars (or a telescope) are still best to find this planet.  

At the moment, the iconic Pleiades cluster is and excellent signpost to Uranus, just two binocular widths away.. See the charts above for guidance. If you are in a dark sky site, the abundance of faint stars may make it confusing to poick up Uranus initially, but the triangle asterism is a good further guide. You my need to consult the printable map a couple of time to pin Uranus down.

Uranus will not move much over the month, so these maps will be a good guide for all of February.

Labels: binocular, lineup, Uranus

The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday February 5. Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars are visible all together (briefly) in the evening sky and are visited by the Moon in turn (as are Uranus and Neptune, but you can't see them with the unaided eye). The crescent Moon is between Saturn and Venus on the 1st, then lines up with Venus and Saturn on the 2nd, then is near Jupiter on the 6th. Jupiter is past opposition and is visible all evening long. Mars is rising in the evening sky, and is visible all night long.. Mercury is lost in the twilight. Fading Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) is still good in binoculars.

The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday February 5. The moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on February 2nd. you will be able to see the Lunar X on February 5.

Date	UT	AEDST	ACDST	AWST
Feb 5	08:13	21:13	20:43	16:13

Labels: weekly sky

Chart showing location of the comet on the 29th of January, it is visible in binoculars from 60 minutes after sunset and (just) with the unaided eye by 90 minutes, you may need averted vision to see it. In binoculars, sweep over from Venus and Saturn just past bright Fomalhaut. The comet will be just above a distinct “W” (or "U")shaped asterism for the next few nights, near the trail of stars from Grus. Click to embiggen.

Black and white printable spotters map to help with finding the comet. Venus and Saturn are good signposts to the location of the comet. I have not indicated magnitudes as I have no reliable magnitude predictions. The comet is fading but as of yesterday was just visible to the unaided eye with averted vision and easily visible in binoculars. The comet is also heading into darker skies and so is likely to be visible for a while. Click to embiggen and print.

Labels: binocular, C/2024 G3, comet, unaided eye

The New Moon is Wednesday January 29. In the evening Venus is drawing away from Saturn, but the pair are still close. Saturn, Venus and Mars are visible all together (briefly) in the evening sky (as are Uranus and Neptune, but you can't see them with the unaided eye).  Jupiter is past opposition and is visible all evening long. Mars is rising in the evening sky, and was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 16th. Mercury is low in the morning twilight. Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) is just visible in the evening twilight, still good in binoculars, but is fading.

The New Moon is Wednesday January 29.

Labels: weekly sky

 

 You may have seen the rather breathless statements about the up coming planetary lineup (or planet parade) often illustrated with telescope images of the planets all rather close together and claiming 6-7 planets will be present in the evening sky. 

While this is (mostly) true, you won't see anything like the illustrations. The hype distracts from what is a beautiful phenomenon.The planets, only 4 of which are bright dots, are strung out from west to east along the ecliptic like beads on a wire, Jupiter and Mars are bright and in some beautiful night sky territory. 

I have some charts and spotting tips below to help you enjoy this without the hype.

Evening sky on Saturday, January 18 as seen from Adelaide at 21:34 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset, Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time, click to embiggen)	Evening sky on Saturday, January 25 as seen from Adelaide at 21:30 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset, Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time, click to embiggen)	Evening sky on Friday, February 28 as seen from Adelaide at 20:20 ACDST (30 minutes after sunset, Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time, click to embiggen)
Orientation of the inner planets on Saturday, January 18 as seen from above the plane of the solar system	Orientation of the inner planets on Saturday, January 25 as seen from above the plane of the solar system	Orientation of the inner planets on Friday, February 28 as seen from above the plane of the solar system
Orientation of the outer planets on Saturday, January 18 as seen from above the plane of the solar system	Orientation of the outer planets on Saturday, January 25 as seen from above the plane of the solar system	Orientation of the outer planets on Friday, February 28 as seen from above the plane of the solar system

Basically, you can only see 4 of the 6-7 with your unaided eye, and rather than all being scrunched up close together, they are spread out over most of the sky from west to north-east.

From the 18th of January to mid February,  face west, looking 60 minutes after sunset. Venus is obvious above the western horizon as the brightest object in the sky. Much dimmer Saturn is a spark just above obvious Venus. Turning to the north the next brightest object is golden Jupiter, the second brightest object in the sky after Venus, just below bright red star Aldebaran and the "V" of the Hyades, not far from the delightful Pleiades cluster. Then looking towards the north east, bright red Mars, just past opposition and the third brightest object in the sky, just edging out the bright star Sirius, is lined up with the pair of stars Castor and Pollux, in Gemini. Neptune is telescope visible only and will be difficult to see low on the horizon (see charts above). 

Uranus is theoretically unaided eye visible under dark sky sites if you know where to look but is best with binoculars or telescope. Uranus is 3° above delta Ari and roughly halfway between Alpha Ceti and the Pleiades (see chart to the left), it is relatively easy to find in binoculars.

The black and white chart suitable for printing shows the location of Uranus, the circle is the approximate field of view of 10x50 binoculars.

The best times to look are between 60 minutes (nautical twilight) and 90 minutes (astronomical twilight, when the sky is fully dark) after sunset, and it helps if you have a clear and level western horizon. Although Venus and Saturn set about 30 minutes or so after astronomical twilight, ~ 2 hours after sunset, trees and houses tend to get in the way. 

You should be able to see this lineup from now until around 15 February, when Saturn is too low in the twilight to see (although you should be able to see it with binoculars). 

After January the 18th, Saturn draws away from Saturn as the pair lower in the evening twilight. On February the first the crescent Moon is between Saturn and the obvious bright Venus low above the western horizon 60 minutes after sunset. The Moon then goes on to visit all the bright planets in turn over the next few days, this will look very nice . Venus is at its greatest brilliance on the 15th of February. 

Although Jupiter and Mars move somewhat over this time they will be roughly where they are on the 18th of January, although Mars is fading rapidly.

Mercury Joins the line up around February the 15th, making 7 planets present, but is hard to see very low in the twilight. By Feb 28 Mercury is higher, but it, Saturn and Neptune are too deep in the twilight to see, and Venus is marginal. Binoculars will be required to see Mercury, and possibly Venus, which is now a thin crescent. 

So ignore the hype and head out in the early evening to enjoy the sight as well the constellation of Orion and bright Sirius  in Canis Major are there to look at too.

 

Labels: alignment, binocular, Jupiter, Mars, public outreach, Saturn, unaided eye, Venus

Comet C/2024 G3 in the SOHO C3 imager on the 13 of January, blue filter. The tail structure is over exposed. the horizontal bar is over exposure artifact.	Comet C/2024 G3 in the SOHO C3 imager on the 13 of January, roughly the same time as the blue image, high resolution FITS image (I have adjusted brightness and contrast to bring out the tail structure)
Animated GIF of Comet C/2024 G3 passing throuh the SOHO C3 imager on the 13-14 of January, blue filter. The tail structure is over exposed. the horizontal bar is over exposure artifact.	Comet C/2024 G3 in the STEREO Ahead H1 imager on the 14 of January, beacon image. The tail structure is over exposed. the vertical bar is over exposure artifact.

Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) has survived perihelion. It is looking magnificent in the SOHO and STEREO spacecraft images. the high resolution FITS images from SOHO show finely detailed tail structure. people have been able to image it in daylight and I have seen magnitude estimates of between -5 and -2.5, if these hold up as it moves away from the sun, we may be able to see it low on the western horizon from the 16th on. 

People have been reporting being able to photograph it 10 minutes after sunset in the US. See the table below for spotters charts (I am still using the old Minor Planet & Comet Ephemeris Service's prediction suggesting a peak magnitude of around  -1.4 so we may see something much brighter). We may even be able to see some tail after the comets head is below the horizon.

While this will not be another comet McNaught, Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) has a very good chance of being a wonderful object as it emerges from the twilight.

Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) as may be seen at civil twilight, 30 minutes after sunset (21:00 ACDST) for Adelaide on the 16th of January 2025. (similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 30 minutes after sunset click to embiggen)	Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) as may be seen at civil twilight, 30 minutes after sunset (21:00 ACDST) for Adelaide on the 18th of January 2025. (similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 30 minutes after sunset click to embiggen)	Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) as may be seen at civil twilight, 30 minutes after sunset (21:00 ACDST) for Adelaide on the 20th of January 2025. (similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 30 minutes after sunset click to embiggen)
Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) will have set by the time nautical twilight occurs 60 minutes after sunset on the 16rg.	Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) as may be seen at nautical twilight, 60 minutes after sunset (21:35 ACDST) for Adelaide on the 18th of January 2025. (similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 60 minutes after sunset click to embiggen)	Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) as may be seen at nautical twilight, 60 minutes after sunset (21:35 ACDST) for Adelaide on the 16th of January 2025. (similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 60 minutes after sunset click to embiggen)

Black and white printable spotters map to help with finding the comet. Venus and Saturn are good signposts to the location of the comet. The magnitudes listed are the current ones from the MPC. It might be brighter. Click to embiggen and print.

Labels: binocular, C/2023 G3, comet, unaided eye

The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 22. In the evening Venus is close to Saturn between the 17th and 20th and closest on the 18th. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mars are visible all together (briefly) in the evening sky (as are Uranus and Neptune, but you can't see them with the unaided eye).  Jupiter is past opposition and is visible all evening long. Mars is rising in the evening sky, and was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 16th. Mercury is low in the morning twilight. Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) may be visible in the evening twilight, from the 16th on.

The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday January 22.The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on the 21st.

Labels: weekly sky

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Full Moon January 14, 08:57 ACDST (Moon below horizon, moon at 21:36 shown).	Full Moon February 13, 0:23 ACDST	Full Moon March 14, 17:43 ACDST, Moon below horizon (moon at 21:00 ACDST shown)
Full Moon April 13, 09:52 ACST FM9:30 (Moon below horizon, moon at 19:18 shown). Apogee at 08:00 14 April +22hs.	Full Moon May, 13 02:26 ACST	Full Moon June 11 17:25 ACST (Moon is just rising)
Full Moon July 11 06:07 ACST.	Full Moon August 09 17:25 ACST (Moon below horizon, moon at 20:06 ACST shown).	Full Moon September 8 039 ACST (Moon shown at 3:31 ACST as totality is starting)
Full Moon October 07 14:17 ACDST  (Moon below horizon, Moon at 20:50 ACDST shown)	Full Moon November 05 23:49 ACDST  ( Perigee, 6th 09:30 ACDST +9h)	Full Moon December 05 9:44 ACDST ( Perigee, 4th 21:37 ACDST +12h)
First Quarter perigee moon at 22:18 ACDST on January 7. Actual First Quarter is midnight on the 7th and perigee is midnight on the 8th (a 24 hour difference).	First Quarter apogee moon at 23:11 ACST on August 1 at actual First Quarter, apogee is 6 am on the 2nd (an ~7 hour difference). The size difference will be clear in telescopes.	First Quarter Moon at 20:43 ACDST )10:13 UT) on January 7 the inset shows the Lunar X (top) and Lunar V (bottom), the dates and times that the Lunar X can be seen are shown in the table below

Dates and time Lunar X and V are visible. Typically visible from about 4hours from the starting time, times in colour are daylight saving times.

Date	UT	AEST	ACST	AWST
Feb 5	08:13	21:13	20:43	16:13
Apr 5	12:43	22:43	22:17	20:43
June 3	13:18	23:18	22:30	21:18
Aug 1	10:57	20:57	20:17	18:57
Sep 29	08:46	18:46	18:16	16:46
Nov 27	10:43	21:43	21:15	18:43

 A year of full Moons showing the variation in size as the moons move from perigee to apogee. I also show the apogee and perigee First Quarter Moons and the dates and times you can see the Lunar X and V. All the moons are shown on the day and time they are full (unless they are below the horizon, in which case the size at astronomical twilight is shown and the time of actual full moon is shown as well), and although this is not the optimal time for size comparisons, you can clearly see the size difference over the year (compare Apr 13 to Nov 5) the original scale for all is 2 degrees of field of view cropped down). Although the field rotation of the Moon makes it less clear, you can also see the effect of libration (January 3 vs May 13)

In 2025 we have two good Perigee Moons in a row (November 5, December 5). However, as you can see the differences are subtle, and it requires a keen eye and good memory to distinguish a perigee "super" Moon from more ordinary moons, the best contrast is with the apogee "mini" moon of April 13, even though this is not a good apogee Moon.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't try though. Daniel Fischer has been able to see the difference, you can read his account and viewing tips here:
http://earthsky.org/space/can-you-discern-supermoons-large-size-with-the-eye-an-observer-says-yes

Photographing them can be more rewarding. You can see images of perigee Moon and apogee Moon pairs from 21 Jan 2019 here and 10 August 2014 here.Tips for photographing them are here.

There is also a nice Total Lunar Eclipse on Monday September 8 in the early morning, so you will have to disturb your sleep to see it.

Labels: apogee, Moon, perigee, public outreach, Yearly Moons