Astroblog: Thursday February 13 to Thursday February 20

Monday, February 10, 2025

Thursday February 13 to Thursday February 20

The Last Quarter Moon is Friday February 21. Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars are visible all together (briefly) in the evening sky. Venus is at it greatest brilliance on the 15th. Jupiter is past opposition and is visible all evening long. Mars is rising in the early evening sky, and is visible all night long. Mercury is lost in the twilight.

The Full Moon is Wednesday February 12. The Last Quarter Moon is Friday February 21. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on Tuesday the 18th.

Western evening sky on Saturday, February 15 as seen from Adelaide at 21:08 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is readily visible from early twilight to just before the sky is fully dark. You will need a clear, level horizon to see Venus. Venus is at its greatest brilliance and is a thin crescent in telescopes.

Saturn is only briefly visible before it disappears into the horizon murk.

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

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

North-western evening sky on Saturday, February 15 as seen from Adelaide at 21:41 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), Jupiter is in the north-west near the red star Aldebaran.

The inset is the telescope view of Jupiter at this time. (click to embiggen). Another new storm has broken out on Jupiter near the first one and may become visible in small telescopes.

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

Northern sky on Saturday, February 15 as seen from Adelaide at 21:41 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Mars forms a triangle with 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 (90 minutes after sunset).

Whole sky on Saturday, Saturday, February 15 as seen from Adelaide at 21:41 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Venus us just setting and will be hard to see. Jupiter is in the north-west. Mars is in the north. The Moon is just rising in the east.

Orion the hunter is high in the north.

The Southern Cross is rising in the Southern sky. The moon is waning from full and the fainter clusters and nebula will start to become more visible.

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

Mercury is lost in the morning twilight.

Venus is lowering in the evening twilight and is readily visible in th late twilight.

Mars is rising in the evening sky. Mars was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on January the 16th and is visible all night long.

Jupiter is high in the the evening sky when the sky is fully dark.

Saturn is lowering in the evening sky. Saturn is soon lost in the twilight.

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