Astroblog: Thursday August 20 to Thursday August 27

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Thursday August 20 to Thursday August 27

The First Quarter Moon is Thursday August 20. The Lunar X is visible on the 20th. Saturn is rising just around 9:30 pm local time. Mars passes close to the stars mu and eta Geminorum. In the evening, Venus is coming closer to the bright star Spica .

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

First Quarter Moon at 17:00 ACST (06:30 UT) on Thursday 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)

North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Saturday, August 22 as seen from Adelaide at 5:24 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is above the north-western horizon. Mars is low in the east, Mars passes close to the stars mu and eta Geminorum between the 20th-23rd, forming a shallow triangle.

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

Western sky on the evening of Saturday, August 22 as seen from Adelaide at 19:14 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is well above the horizon when the sky is fully dark. It is coming closer to the bright star Spica.

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 22 as seen from Adelaide at 23:30 ACST (click to embiggen).

Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn is rising around 9:30 am local time, 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 22 as seen from Adelaide at 19:14 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 come closer to the bright star Spica.

Mars is low in the twilight. Mars passes close to the stars mu and eta Geminorum between the 20th-23rd, forming a shallow triangle.

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