Astroblog: Thursday August 13 to Thursday August 20

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Thursday August 13 to Thursday August 20

The New Moon is Thursday August 13 and the First Quarter Moon is Thursday August 20. The Lunar X is visible on the 20th. Saturn is rising just around 10:00 pm local time. Mars is close to the open cluster M35 on the 15th. In the evening, Venus forms a line with the crescent Moon and The bright star Spica on the 15th when Venus is furthest from the sun. On the 16th the crescent Moon and Venus are very close. Comet 220P McNaught may be visible in binoculars.

The New Moon is Thursday August 13 and the First Quarter Moon is Thursday August 20. The Lunar X is visible on the 20th.

North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Saturday, August 15 as seen from Adelaide at 5:31 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is high above the north-western horizon. Mars is low in the east, and is close to the open cluster M35 from the 14th to 17th, and is closest on the 15th.

The inset is the binocular view of Mars and M35 on the 15th

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

View of the Northern Sky as seen from Adelaide at astronomical twilight (90 minutes before Sunrise) on August 15 showing the location of comet 220P McNaught (red cross). Click to embiggen

Comet 220P McNaught should have been a barely visible telescopic object but it has undergone two large outbursts, soaring from magnitude 18 to now roughly magnitude 7, a nearly 7000 fold increase in brightness. Of course, while this is "bright" in astronomical terms, you will still need binoculars or a small telescope to see it.

For printable spotters charts and viewing guides see my comet 220P site.

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

First Quarter Moon at 17:00 ACST (06:30 UT) on August 20 as seen from Adelaide. The moon is in twilight, but the lunar X is still visible.The inset shows the Lunar X (top) and Lunar V (bottom).

Dates and time Lunar X and V are visible. Typically visible from about 4hours from the starting time.

Date	UT	AEST	ACST	AWST
Aug 20	06:30	17:30	17:00	14:30 (moon in twilight on east coast, daylight WA, but X still visible in twilight)

Western sky on the evening of Sunday, August 16 as seen from Adelaide at 19:10 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is well above the horizon when the sky is fully dark. Venus is very close to the crescent Moon. The inset is the telescopic view of Venus at this time.

Venus is a clear "Half Moon" shape and is increasing in size. The shape is readily visible in even small telescopes (although the brightness may make it hard to see).

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

Eastern horizon on the evening of Saturday, August 15 as seen from Adelaide at 23:30 ACST (click to embiggen).

Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn is rising around 10:00 am loacl timet, but is still best for telescopic observation in the morning, and its rings are widening.

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

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

Whole sky on Saturday, August 15 as seen from Adelaide at 19:10 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Venus is prominent in the north-west.

Scorpius, and the core of the Milky way are at the Zenith.

The Pointers are at their zenith in the Southern sky as the Southern Cross sinks to the south west. The Moon is waxing and the fainter clusters and nebula are becoming harder 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 forms a line with the crescent Moon and The bright star Spica on the 15th when Venus is furthest from the sun. on the 16th the crescent Moon and Venus are very close.

Mars is climbing in the twilight. Mars is close to the open cluster M35 from the 14th to 17th, and is closest on the 15th.

Jupiter is lost in the twilight.

Saturn is in the northwest in the morning sky above Mars. It is now rising before midnight, but is best seen in the morning.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ACST, Western sky at 10 pm ACST. 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