Astroblog: Thursday September 10 to Thursday September 17

Tuesday, September 08, 2026

Thursday September 10 to Thursday September 17

The New Moon is Friday September 11. Saturn is rising around 8:00 pm local time. Mars is close to Wasat (δ Geminorum). Jupiter is low in the morning sky. In the evening, Venus is becoming brighter with the bright star Spica below and Mercury just over the horizon. The crescent moon is close to Venus on the 14th. Occultation of Antares on the 17th.

The New Moon is Friday September 11.

North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Friday, September 11 as seen from Adelaide at 4:58 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is above the north-western horizon. Mars passes close to Wasat (δ Geminorum). Jupiter is low on the horizon.

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 Monday, September 14 as seen from Adelaide at 19:30ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is well above the horizon when the sky is fully dark. The bright star Spica is below it and mercury is peeping above the horizon.

mercury will rise higher in the twilight over the coming week.

Venus is a clear "Crescent 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 (90 minutes after sunset).

Eastern horizon on the evening of Saturday, September 12 as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 ACST (click to embiggen).

Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn is rising around 8:00 pm 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.

The western sky at 23:37 ACST Tuesday, September 17, as seen from Adelaide. The Moon is about to occult the bright star Antares low on the horizon.

The inset shows the telescopic view at the time. (click to embiggen).

This is an occultation best seen from the east coast south of Sydney around midnight with a level, unobstructed horizon. The Moon is approaching First Quarter and is low above the horizon. The Moon sets before Antares can reappear.

Place	Disappears Bright Limb	Reappears Dark Limb
Adelaide ACST	23:37	-
Brisbane AEST	-	-
Canberra AEST (18th)	00:00	-
Darwin ACST	-	-
Hobart AEST	23:51	-
Melbourne AEDST	23:59	-
Perth AWST	-	-
Sydney AEST	-	-

Whole sky on Saturday, September 121 as seen from Adelaide at 19:29 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 declining from their zenith in the Southern sky as the Southern Cross sinks to the south west. The Moon is waning and the fainter clusters and nebula are becoming easier to see.

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

Mercury returns to the evening twilight.

Venus leaves behind the bright star Spica and is becoming bigger and brighter.

Mars is low in the twilight. Mars passes close to delta Geminorum.

Jupiter returns to the morning twilight.

Saturn is in the northwest in the morning sky. 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