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Thursday, December 20, 2018

 

Coming Events: A Year of Southern Astronomy for 2019

The Moon and Saturn on 9 October 2019 at 04:00 ACDST, as seen form Alice Springs, the inset shows the telescopic view of the ringed world and the edge of the Moon just before occulation.  Most of northern Australia will enjoy similar views. Click to embiggen.

The table below shows significant astronomical events that can be seen with the unaided eye or minimal equipment in 2019 in Australia (and to some degree elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, ocultations and eclipses are very region specific).

Close pairings of the Moon and bright planets are given special attention as not only is the Moon a ready guide to locating the planets if you are not familiar with them, these massings are rather beautiful. 

Special events are bolded.

Sadly, the partial solar eclipse is just visible from parts of northern Australia, and the partial lunar eclipse is somewhat sad, but we have three occultations of Saturn and a number of beautiful planetary events to keep us occupied. The asteroid Vesta should be (just) visible to the unaided eye too.


DateEvent
2 January 2019Venus close to crescent Moon in morning
3-4  January 2019 Crescent Moon and Jupiter close
4  January 2019Crescent Moon near Mercury
12-13 January 2019waxing Moon and Mars close
14 January 2019Mercury a bit over a finger-width from Saturn low in the morning twilight
21 January 2019Perigee Full Moon ("super" Moon, strictly at its biggest on the morning of the 22nd)
23 January 2019Venus and Jupiter close in the morning
31 January 2019Crescent Moon and Jupiter close again
 1 February 2019Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky
2-3 February 2019Crescent Moon close to Saturn in the morning
10 February 2019Waxing Moon close to Mars
12-13 February 2019Uranus close to Mars (binocular viewing)
20 February 2019Perigee Full Moon ("super" Moon, strictly at its biggest on the evening of the 19th)
28 February 2019Waning Moon close to Jupiter
2 March 2019Crescent Moon close to Saturn in the morning
3 March 2019Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky
11 March 2019Crescent Moon close to Mars
30 March 2019Waning Moon close to Saturn
 2-3 April 2019Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky
 3 April 2019Crescent Moon close to Mercury in the morning sky
 9 April 2019Moon close to Mars in evening sky
23 April 2019waning Moon close to Jupiter in the evening sky
25 April 2019Occultation of Saturn by the Moon, very low on horizon
4-25 May 2019Asteroid Ceres visible in binoculars (opposition on 28th)
 3 May 2019Crescent Moon close to Venus in the morning sky
 6 May 2019Eta Aquariid meteor shower.
8 May 2019 Crescent Moon close to Mars
 19 May 2019 Venus and Uranus a finger-width apart in the morning twilight (binoculars)
20 May 2019 Jupiter near waning Moon
22 May 2019 Waning Moon close to Saturn
1-29 June 2019 Asteroid Ceres visible in binoculars
 2 June 2019 Crescent Moon and Venus close in twilight
4 June 2019  Crescent Moon and Mercury close
  5 June 2019Crescent Moon and Mars close
11 June 2019 Jupiter at Opposition
16 June 2019 Jupiter and Full Moon close
19 June 2019Moon and Saturn close
 4 July 2019 Mercury close to Crescent Moon and Mars in the twilight
10 July 2019Saturn at Opposition
13-14 July 2019 Moon and Jupiter close
16 July 2019 Moon and Saturn close
 16-17 July 2019Partial Lunar Eclipse, early morning, really only visible from WA and a bit in the Central states
30 July 2019 Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower
10 August 2019  Moon close to Jupiter
12 August 2019Moon close to Saturn, Occultation seen on East coast only
6 September 2019 Waxing Moon and Jupiter close
8-9 September 2019Saturn close to Moon, Occultation in northern and Western Australia
13 September 2019Apogee Full Moon (mini-Moon)
29 September 2019 Mercury close to bright star Spica
30 September 2019Crescent Moon close to Spica and Mercury with Venus below
3-5 October 2019Venus and the bright star Spica close
 4 October 2019Jupiter and waxing Moon close
6 October 2019Saturn and waxing Moon close
22 October 2019 Orionid meteor shower
24 October 2019Variable star Mira at its brightest
29 October 2019Mercury, Venus and Crescent Moon close
31 October 2019Jupiter and waxing Moon close
2 November 2019waxing Moon close to Saturn
9 November 2019Jupiter crescent Moon close
11 November 2019Crescent Moon and Saturn close
12 November 2019Asteroid Vesta at opposition, potentially (just) visible with the unaided eye
17 November 2019Leonid Meteor Shower
24 November 2019Jupiter and Venus just two finger-widths apart
25 November 2019the Crescent Moon, Mars and Mercury form a triangle in the dawn sky
28-29 November 2019 the Crescent Moon, Jupiter and Venus form a line in the evening twilight
2 December 2019 Venus close to the globular cluster M22 in the evening twilight (binocular)
11 December 2019 Venus and Saturn two finger-widths apart
15 December 2019Geminid Meteor shower (full Moon, poor rates)
23 December 2019 Crescent Moon close to Mars in morning sky
26 December 2019 Partial Eclipse of the Sun, visible only in northern Australia
27 December 2019Crescent Moon close to Saturn in the evening twilight
29 December 2019 Crescent Moon close to Venus in the evening sky

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