Astroblog: Thursday March 5 to Thursday March 12

Monday, March 02, 2026

Thursday March 5 to Thursday March 12

The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday March 11. 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.

The Last Quarter Moon is Wednesday March 11. The Moon is at apogee (when it is furthest from Earth) on the 10th.

North-western sky on the evening of Saturday, March 7 as seen from Adelaide at 21:12 ACDST ( 90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

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)

The inset is the binocular view of the Pleiades and Uranus at this time.

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

North-eastern sky on Saturday, March 7 as seen from Adelaide at 21:12 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on January the 10th, but will be bright for many months. Jupiter forms a broad triangle with the bright stars Betelgeuse and Procyon, and a narrower triangle with the stars Castor and Pollux. Jupiter is close to the waxing Moon.

The inset shows the telescopic view of Jupiter at this time.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, March 7 as seen from Adelaide at 21:12 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is prominent in the north.

Bright Canopus and Sirius are near the Zenith. Orion is now high in the north-western sky.

The Southern Cross is rising in the Southern sky. The moon is nearly full and the fainter clusters and nebula are hard to see.

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

Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus is lost in the twilight glow.

Mars is lost in the twilight.

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

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