Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Thursday March 12 to Thursday March 19
The New Moon is Thursday March 19. Venus begins to emerge from the twilight. Jupiter dominates the northern sky. It forms a broad triangle with the bright stars Betelgeuse and Procyon, and a narrower triangle with the stars Castor and Pollux. Uranus can be seen in binoculars above the Pleiades cluster. The variable star Mira may be visible in the evening. In the morning Mars, Mercury and the crescent moon are visible low to the horizon.
The New Moon is Thursday March 19.
Mars, Mercury and the thin crescent moon form a triangle low to the horizon. You may need binoculars to see Mercury and Mars.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (45 minutes before sunrise).
Venus is visible just above the western horizon, you will need a level, unobscured horizon to see it.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (30 minutes after sunset).
The planet Uranus is theoretically visible to the unaided eye from Dark sky locations, as it is magnitude 5.8, but it is best seen with binoculars. The beautiful and obvious Pleiades cluster is the signpost to the faint planet. The waxing moon will make seeing Uranus more difficult.
The variable star Mira is magnitude 3.5 and should be unaided eye visible, however you may still need binoculars to identify it (the barred circle in the image) especially as it is coming closer to the horizon.
The inset is the binocular view of Mira and the guide stars.
Mercury returns to the morning twilight.
Venus returns to the evening twilight.
Mars is low in the twilight below Mercury.
Jupiter climbs in the morning twilight and is now rising before astronomical twilight. Jupiter forms a broad triangle with the bright stars Betelgeuse and Procyon, and a narrower triangle with the stars Castor and Pollux Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on January the 10th.
Saturn is lost in the twilight
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
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