Astroblog: Thursday August 21 to Thursday August 28

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Thursday August 21 to Thursday August 28

The New Moon is Saturday August 23. Mars is passing through Virgo heading towards the star Spica. It is close to the star Porrima on the 23rd and forms a triangle with the crescent moon and Porrima on the 26th. Saturn is rising before midnight and is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn is close to Neptune. Venus and Jupiter are visible in the morning twilight and are drawing apart. The crescent Moon is close to Venus on the 21st.

The New Moon is Saturday August 23.

North-eastern twilight sky on the morning of Thursday, August 21 as seen from Adelaide at 05:54 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Venus and Jupiter are are close but drawing apart. Jupiter forms a triangle with Procyon and Betelgeuse. The crescent Moon is close to Venus.

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

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

Eastern sky on the evening of Saturday, August 23 as seen from Adelaide at 23:00 ACST (click to embiggen).

Saturn is rising higher above the eastern horizon. The insets shows the telescopic view at this time and the binocular view of Saturn and Neptune.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time.

North-western sky on Tuesday, August 26 as seen from Adelaide at 19:17 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Mars forms a triangle with the star Porrima and the crescent Moon. Mars is heading towards the bright star Spica.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, August 23 as seen from Adelaide at 19:15 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Mars is in the north-west, close to the bright star Porrima.

Bright Canopus is brushing the horizon and Scorpius and the galactic core is at the Zenith.

The Southern Cross is sinking in the Southern sky. The moon is new and the fainter clusters and nebula are easier to see.

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

Mercury is low in the morning twilight.

Venus is lowering in the morning twilight moving away from Jupiter. The crescent Moon is close to Venus on the 21st.

Mars is lowering in the evening sky and passing through Virgo towards Spica. It is close to the star Porrima on the 23rd and forms a triangle with the crescent moon and Porrima on the 26th.

Jupiter climbs in the morning twilight above Venus.

Saturn is rising before midnight. It is near Neptune

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