Astroblog

Thursday, October 08, 2026

Seeing Vesta at Opposition (12 October 2026)


Eastern horizon on the evening of Monday, October 12 as seen from Adelaide at 20:54 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. The asteroid Vesta is at opposition and 1s easily visible in binoculars on the 12th. unfortunately there are no bright guide stars to easily get to it. The insets shows the telescopic view of Saturn and the binocular view of Vesta at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time	Vesta last night taken on my Samsung S24 in astrophoto mode. 5x zoom, 2 minutes exposure. Vesta comes to opposition on Monday the 12th. The Guide stars theta (𝛉) Ceti and Zeta 𝜻 Ceti, are indicated along with Vesta and HIP 8230.(click to embiggen)

Black and white binocular chart suitable for printing showing the movement of 4 Vesta over October. The large circle represents the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. Saturn and the Guide stars theta (𝛉) Ceti and Zeta 𝜻 Ceti, are indicated along with Vesta, HIP 7999 and HIP 8230.Click to embiggen and print. Use the horizon chart to the left for orientation first. Use the chart above to orient yourself to get to the guide stars.	Black and white binocular chart suitable for printing showing the movement of 4 Vesta over October. Guide stars are indicated. The large circle represents the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. Click to embiggen and print. Use the horizon chart to the left for orientation first.

The Asteroid 4 Vesta is one of the iconic minor planets, and one of two orbited by the Dawn spacecraft. At favorable oppositions Vesta is bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye under dark sky conditions. This year it only gets to magnitude 6.5 making it binocular only. It will be easily visible in binoculars and small telescopes even under suburban skies.

This year Monday, October 12 is a reasonable opposition of Vesta, when it will reach a magnitude of 6.5 at its brightest with no Moon interference and few reasonable guide stars.

Vesta is not far from Saturn, roughly between and below the bright stars moderately bright stars 𝛉 Ceti and 𝜻 Ceti, Vesta is within 1-2 binocular widths of 𝛉 Ceti. From tonight it is near a small distinct asterism of dim stars, then moves progressively towards an imaginary line between Saturn and 𝛉 Ceti, see the charts above. Vesta's movement from night to night is easily seen.

Finding Vesta with the back and white charts should be easy. Print them out and use with a red-light torch (or a standard torch with red cellophane over it) so as to not disturb your night vision.

The waxing Moon will interfere later in the month, but now there is no Moon interference up to opposition allowing Vesta and its guide stars to be fairly easily seen in binoculars.

Labels: 4 Vesta, Asteroid, binocular

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 6:12 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, October 06, 2026

Thursday 8 October to Thursday October 15

The New Moon is Sunday October 11. Saturn is just past opposition, but still magnificent in telescopes. Mars is in the heart of the Beehive cluster on the morning of the 12th. Jupiter is low in the morning sky. In the evening, Venus is slowly sinking and Mercury is rising. Mercury is at its greatest distance from the Sun on the 12th. Also on the 12th Venus is near the crescent Moon and on the 13th the crescent Moon is above Mercury. The asteroid Vesta can be seen in binoculars.

The New Moon is Sunday October 11.

North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Monday, October 12 as seen from Adelaide at 5:11 ACDST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is low above the north-western horizon. Mars is in the heart of the Beehive cluster (M44). Mars forms a line with Jupiter and the bright star Regulus.

The insets shows the binocular view of Mars in the Beehive cluster and 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 before sunrise).

Western sky on the evening of Monday, October 12 as seen from Adelaide at 20:23 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is just above the horizon when the sky is fully dark. Venus is near the crescent Moon and below Mercury. Crescent Venus and the crescent moon will (just) fit into the field of view of 10x50 binoculars.

Venus is a clear thin "Crescent Moon" shape and is increasing in size. The shape is readily visible in even small telescopes, and even 10x50 binoculars (although the brightness may make it hard to see due to internal lens reflections).

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

Western sky on the evening of Tuesday, October 13 as seen from Adelaide at 20:23 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is just above the horizon when the sky is fully dark. Mercury is below the crescent Moon and above Venus. Mercury is 3° to the right of the 3rd magnitude star Alpha Librae (Zubenelgenubi), a visual binary of yellow and white stars worth a look with binoculars (see the inset). Some places may see the Chinese space station pass close to Venus and Mercury.

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 Monday, October 12 as seen from Adelaide at 20:54 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th and is and is sill a magnificent telescopic sight.

The asteroid Vesta is at opposition and us easily visible in binoculars on the 12th. unfortunately there are no bright guide stars to easily get to it.

The insets shows the telescopic view of Saturn and the binocular view of Vesta at this time.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, October 10 as seen from Adelaide at 20:53 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Venus is prominent in the north-west. Saturn is visible low in the east

Scorpius, and the core of the Milky way are coming off 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 new and the fainter clusters and nebula are easier to see.

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

Mercury climbs higher in the the evening twilight. The planet reaches its greatest elongation, 25° from the Sun, on the 12th, also on the 12th, the 2-day-old thin crescent Moon will appear about 5° away, between Mercury and Venus. On the 13th, the planet is 3° to the right of the 3rd magnitude star Alpha Librae

Venus leaves is becoming bigger and brighter but is slowly returning horizon-wards. On the 12th, Venus will be 3° to the left of the 2-day-old thin crescent Moon with Mercury above the pair, best viewed about an hour after sunset.

Mars is low in the twilight. From the 11th to the 13th, Mars crosses the Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer. At magnitude 1, the Red Planet is much brighter than any of the stars in the Beehive Cluster, making for an interesting photo opportunity.

Jupiter climbs higher the morning twilight but remains low on the horizon forming a line with Mars and the bright star Regulus.

Saturn Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th. Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon.

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

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 6:30 pm 0 comments

Sunday, October 04, 2026

The Opposition of Saturn tonight, 4 October 2026 and some of my images of Saturn

Eastern horizon on the evening of Sunday, October 4 as seen from Adelaide at 20:47 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn is at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th and is visible the entire night. But is best for telescopic observation from around midnight on, and its rings are widening.

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

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

Tonight, 4 October, is the opposition of Saturn, where it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth. So of course it is completely clouded out here. Despite this, have a chart and some images I took earlier this year and in 2025 when the rings were edge on (and even earlier in 2021 with my previous webcam setup) as some encouragement to view Saturn when the skies let you.


Saturn with rings opening 01-09-26, 8" Newtonian, ZWO ASI 224MC, 2x Barlow 640x40 frame.	Saturn_20-08-21, 8" Newtonian, ToYou Cam astro modded, 2x Barlow 640x40 frame

Saturn with rings edge on 05-11-25, Moons Enceladus and Rhea just visible. 8" Newtonian, ZWO ASI 224MC, 2x Barlow 640x40 frame.	Saturn with rings almost edge on 19-8-25 8" Newtonian, ZWO ASI 224MC, 2x Barlow 640x40 frame.

Labels: my images, Opposition, Saturn, telescope

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:07 pm 0 comments

Friday, October 02, 2026

The Mysterious Streaks in the Clouds of Venus. Clues to Life or Strange Cosmic Chemistry?

To be read in conjunction with the tangent section of the astrophiz podcast #243

https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz-243-october-sky-guide-saturn-opposition-orionids-venus

This month as Venus swells in size and becomes a wire thin crescent, visible even in binoculars (although best seen at twilight as its brightness may cause reflection artifacts), let us reflect on its reflective atmosphere.

Seen through ordinary binoculars and telescopes, Venus is plain (almost blindingly) white and featureless, its surface eternally cloaked in clouds.

But if you put a (swingingly expensive) UV filter on your telescope, you can see structures in the clouds, dramatic dark and bright patterns moving with the planet's sulfuric acid clouds.

Venus in false colour from the Akatsuki UVI instrument
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Global-view-of-Venus-in-ultraviolet-from-Akatsuki-May-2016-A-false-color-image-using_fig3_356985876

Astronomers have known about these bands for around a century, yet the chemical identity of the material responsible, the "unknown absorber", remains a mystery. In a recent study, an international team modeled the nature of the cloud droplets and the absorption characteristics. Venus's cloud droplets are approximately the size of cigarette smoke, and very effective at scattering light. The researchers concluded that to cause these dark patterns the droplets must be very dark, and from the characteristics of the UV absorption band, a likely candidate was an organic compound.

But, in the words of one of the researchers "If the observed light absorption is due to conjugated organic matter, the relatively sharp absorption profile is consistent with a chemically defined absorber that resists conversion into the tar-like mixture we typically observe with organics dissolved in concentrated sulfuric acid" https://scientificinquirer.com/2026/09/02/venuss-mysterious-clouds-may-hide-an-exceptionally-strong-light-absorber/

So what could this mysterious organic compound(s) be? Something with a defined structure that is stable in sulfuric acid?

Hot on the heels of the unknown absorber announcement comes the finding that peptides may persist in Venusian clouds. Peptides are short chains of amino acids that are not quite proteins. It was suspected that peptides would rapidly breakdown in sulfuric acid into the tar-like mixture mentioned above, but it turns out they don't. Peptides adopt stable omega-loop structures in concentrated sulfuric acid and hydrolysis is limited in nearly water-free acidic solutions like those in the clouds on Venus.

But this lead to another question, where do the peptides come from? With the surface the temperature of molten lead and a crushing atmosphere of sulfuric acid droplets, could there be any living things that could make these peptides?

Not on the surface, but perhaps high in the cloud deck, at around 50-60 Km above the surface the pressure is around 1 atmosphere and the temperature around 60°C. Life could possible find a home in the region. But it would be at the mercy of down drafts into the hotter regions below. However, the presence of updrafts could keep a microbial community circulating in the upper atmosphere.

After all, even on Earth there are microbial communities that thrive in hot high pressure systems around black smoker hydrothermal vents under crushing pressures, high temperatures and acidic conditions and can grow at temperatures of 90°C. In the more "temperate" regions of the upper cloud with temperatures around 60°C and pressures of around 1 earth atmosphere, microbial communities could find a home.

But is there any evidence for life as a potential source of peptides (or maybe the signature is from desiccated microbial spores)?

Remember phosphine (PH₃)? Back in 2020 it was allegedly detected in the atmosphere of Venus, and phosphine is a potential bio-signature, suggested for detecting life on exoplanets. It is hard to explain the existence of phosphine in Venus's atmosphere on geochemical processes. So there was much excitement.

However this was an extremely controversial claim, it was suggested that the detection was an artifact and the SOFIA infrared telescope mounted in a747 could not replicate the finding. Subsequently reanalysis of the Pioneer Venus Probe mass spectrometer in situ data from 1978 suggest the presence of phosphine at part-per-million (ppm) levels within the clouds, while the ALMA and JCMT data indicate 10-20 part-per-billion (ppb) levels above the clouds.

So at the moment there is plausible data the suggesting that organic material may be the "unknown absorber" possibly adding another line of support for life in Venus's atmosphere hinted at by phosphine. However, much more needs to be done with more sophisticated analysis and missions to Venus itself, rather than relying on inferences and modeling.

Ironically, as I was writing this another paper was published suggesting that the "unknown absorber" was due to metals from cosmic dust sinking into the cloud deck. The identity of the "unknown absorber" and the possibility of life on Venus remains unresolved and will have to await future missions to Venus. whatever the outcome, this will refine our ability to look for bio-signatures on exoplanets.

Labels: Astrophiz, bio-signatures, life, Venus

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:04 pm 0 comments

Thursday, October 01, 2026

October Skies 2026, and Astrophiz podcast

To be read in conjunction with the astrophiz podcast #243

https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz-243-october-sky-guide-saturn-opposition-orionids-venus


Eastern horizon on the evening of Sunday, October 4 as seen from Adelaide at 20:47 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn is at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th and is visible the entire night. But is best for telescopic observation from around midnight on, and its rings are widening. The inset shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).	North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Monday, October 5 as seen from Adelaide at 5:21 ACDST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Saturn is low above the north-western horizon. Mars forms a triangle with with the bright stars Procyon and Pollux and the waning Moon. Jupiter is low on the horizon. The inset shows the telescopic view of Mars and Jupiter at this time. 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 Wednesday, October 7 as seen from Adelaide at 20:19 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). The inset is the telescopic view of Venus. Venus is above the horizon when the sky is fully dark. Mercury is close to Venus on the 6th and 7th. Venus is a clear thin "Crescent Moon" shape and is increasing in size. The shape is readily visible in even small telescopes, and even 10x50 binoculars (although the brightness may make it hard to see due to internal lens reflections). Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset).	Western sky on the evening of Monday, October 12 as seen from Adelaide at 20:14 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). The insets are the telescopic view of Venus and the binocular view of of the Venus-Moon pair. Venus is low above the horizon with Mercury above it. Venus is a clear thin "Crescent Moon" and close to the thin crescent Moon. The shape is readily visible in 10x50 binoculars. The crescent Venus and crescent moon will just fit into the field of View of 10x50 binoculars. You may need to have binoculars mounted on a tripod to see them without too much handshake. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset).

October
04 October 2026	Saturn Opposition
05 October 2026	Moon near Mars: 1.2° in the morning
06 October 2026	Moon close to Jupiter in the morning
07 October 2026	Mercury near Venus: 5° in the evening twilight.
12 October 2026	Mars in the heart of the Beehive cluster
12 October 2026	Moon near Venus 3.3° in the evening twilight with Mercury above
13 October 2026	Moon near Mercury 2.3° in the evening twilight with Venus below
21-22 October 2026	Orionid meteor shower
28 October 2026	Moon close to the Pleiades: 1°

Moon:

October 2	Moon at perigee
October 3	Last Quarter Moon (ideal for star gazing)
October 11	New Moon (also ideal for star gazing total solar eclipse northern hemisphere)
October 17	Moon at apogee
October 19	First Quarter Moon (Daylight Lunar X on the 18th)
October 26	Full Moon (Moon at perigee again on October 29, difficult occultation of Beta Tauri)


Lunar X and V as seen at sunset on the 18th (although true firt Quarter is on the 19th), they will still be visible deeper in the twilight	Closer telescopic view of the Lunar X and V at sunset

Dates and time Lunar X and V are visible. Typically visible from about 4hours from the starting time, times in colour are daylight saving times.

Date	UT	AEST	ACST	AWST
Oct 18	05:37	16:37	16:07	13:37 (moon in daylight, X but still visible in twilight)

Occultation of Beta Tauri (Elnath), Thursday October 29/30. (waning)


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).	The western sky at 00:0 AEST Wednesday, September 18, as seen from Canberra. 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).	The western sky at 23:59 AEST Tuesday, September 17, as seen from Melbourne. 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).

An occultation best seen from the east coast around midnight. The Moon is waning and low above the horizon. The Moon rises with Elnath occulted in most locations.

Place	Disappears Dark Limb	Reappears Bright Limb
Adelaide ACDST	-	00:07 (30th)
Brisbane AEST	-	23:48
Canberra AEDST	23:54	00:53(30^th)
Darwin ACST	-	-
Hobart AEFST	-	01:00 (30th)
Melbourne AEDST	-	00:51 (30th)
Perth AWST	-	-
Sydney AEDST	23:55	00:55 (30th)

Stars:

The northern sky as seen at 23:00 ACDST from Adelaide on October 11 (New Moon). The Andromeda galaxy is indicated by the box. Similar views will been seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time.

The Southern sky as seen at 23:00 ACDST from Adelaide on October 11 (New Moon). The constellation of Octntis (Octant) is indicated, the cricle marks Sigma Octanits, the box Mel227 and the inset the binocular view of star delta Octanits and the nice pair of Pi Octantis.
The small and large Magellanic clouds are also seen. Similar views will been seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time.

Scorpius forms a reversed question mark setting above the western horizon.

Sagitarius and with it the centre of the galaxy have departed the Zenith but it still remains an excellent binocular hunting ground. In the lid of the “teapot of Sagittarius is the great globular cluster M22, well worthwhile in binoculars, and nearby the triffid and lagoon nebula.

Around midnight the famous Andromeda galaxy is low to the north but should be easily visible in binoculars. At the same time one of our companion galaxies, the Lesser Magellanic cloud and the magnificent globular cluster 47 Tucana are quite high almost due south and a delight in binoculars.

At around 10:00 pm local time the Southern Cross will almost be at the 5’oclock position in the sky. Most of the magnificent Southern clusters and nebula are sitting on the southern horizon, however.
Almost due south of the small Magellanic cloud is the faint and undistinguished triangular constellation of Octantus, the Octant, the navigation instrument that first helped chart the southern skies for European explorers.

Octanus contains the “south pole star” sigma Octantis, a hard to see 5th Magnitude star close to the south celestial pole. In binoculars, near the broad base of the triangle is the faint open cluster Mel 227. Sweeping down towards the point of the triangle and close to the brighter star delta octanits that forms the point is the nice pair of Pi Octantis.

Here are links to printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ACST, Western sky at 10 pm ACST.

Meteors:

Morning sky as seen from Adelaide facing north at 4:00 am ACDST on 22 October, the Orionid radiant is indicated with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at an equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.

The Orionids are a normally worthwhile shower, best seen between 2-4 am, the radiant being just under Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion. This year the waning Moon will significantly interfere with viewing in the early evening and the rates will be low, once the moon sets around 4 am the rates will be better. The best viewing is the mornings of the 21st to 23rd with the highest rates on the morning of the 22nd, when between 4-5 am under dark skies you should see about a meteor every 4-5 minutes or so.

Labels: Astrophiz, Monthly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:55 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Thursday 1 October to Thursday October 8

The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday October 3. Daylight savings starts on the 4th. Saturn is at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th. Mars forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux and is close to the waning Moon on the 5th. Jupiter is low in the morning sky is close to the crescent Moon on the 6th-7th. In the evening, Venus is slowly sinking and Mercury is rising, the pair are close on the 6th-7th.

The Last Quarter Moon is Saturday October 3. Daylight savings starts on the 4th. The Moon is at
perigee (when it is closest to Earth) on the 2nd.

North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Monday, October 5 as seen from Adelaide at 5:21 ACDST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is low above the north-western horizon. Mars forms a triangle with with the bright stars Procyon and Pollux and the waning Moon. Jupiter is low on the horizon.

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

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

North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Wednesday, October 7 as seen from Adelaide at 5:49 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is low above the north-western horizon. Mars forms a triangle with with the bright stars Procyon and Pollux. Jupiter is low on the horizon forming a line with crescent Moon and the bright star Regulus.

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

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

Western sky on the evening of Wednesday, October 7 as seen from Adelaide at 20:19 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is above the horizon when the sky is fully dark. Mercury is close to Venus on the 6th and 7th.

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 Sunday, October 4 as seen from Adelaide at 20:47 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

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

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

Whole sky on Saturday, October 3 as seen from Adelaide at 19:46 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Venus is prominent in the north-west. Saturn is visible low in the east

Scorpius, and the core of the Milky way are coming off 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 at last quarter 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. Mercury is close to Venus on the 6th-7th.

Venus leaves is becoming bigger and brighter but is slowly returning horizon-wards. Venus is close to Mercury on the 6th-7th.

Mars is low in the twilight. Mars forms forms a triangle with with the bright stars Procyon and Pollux and the waning Moon on the 5th.

Jupiter climbs higher the morning twilight but remains low on the horizon forming a line with crescent Moon and the bright star Regulus.

Saturn Saturn is at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th and is visible the entire night. In the evening, Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon.

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 5:43 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Thursday September 24 to Thursday 1 October

The Full Moon is Sunday September 27. Saturn is rising before astronomical twilight. The Full Moon is close to Saturn on the 27th. Mars forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux. Jupiter is low in the morning sky. In the evening, Venus is slowly sinking and Mercury is close to the bright star Spica in the twilight on the 26th.

The Full Moon is Sunday September 27.

North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Saturday, September 26 as seen from Adelaide at 4:35 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is low above the north-western horizon. Mars forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux. 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 Saturday, September 26 as seen from Adelaide at 19:10 ACST (60 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 brightening Mercury is close to Spica.

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 Sunday, September 26 as seen from Adelaide at 19:41 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. On the 27th it is close to the Full Moon. Saturn is rising before Nautical Twilight, but is best for telescopic observation from around midnight on, and its rings are widening.

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

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

Whole sky on Saturday, September 26 as seen from Adelaide at 19:40 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Venus is prominent in the north-west. Saturn is visible low in the east

Scorpius, and the core of the Milky way are near 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 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 returns to the evening twilight. Mercury is close to the bright star Spica in the twilight on the 26th.

Venus leaves behind the bright star Spica and is becoming bigger and brighter but is slowly returning horizon-wards.

Mars is low in the twilight. Mars forms a line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux.

Jupiter climbs higher the morning twilight.

Saturn is low in the northwest in the morning sky. In the evening, Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. On the 27th it is close to the Full Moon.