Astroblog: Thursday January 4 to Thursday January 11

Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Thursday January 4 to Thursday January 11

The Last Quarter Moon is Thursday, January 4 then the New Moon is Thursday January 11. Saturn is now in the west when twilight ends. Jupiter is highest around nautical twilight and is now well visible in the evening sky. Venus is visible in the morning twilight and is joined by Mercury. Venus is in the head of the Scorpion and is close to nu Scorpii on the 4th. The Moon is close to Venus on the 9th and Mercury on the 10th.

The Last Quarter Moon is Thursday, January 4. The New Moon is Thursday January 11.

Evening sky on Saturday, January 6 as seen from Adelaide at 22:18 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset), Saturn is low above the western horizon. The inset is the telescopic view of Saturn at this time.

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

Evening sky on Saturday, January 6 as seen from Adelaide at 22:18 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset). Jupiter is above the northern horizon. The inset is the telescopic view at this time.

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

Morning sky on Tuesday, January 9 as seen from Adelaide at 05:06 ACDST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Venus is beginning to lower in the morning twilight and is in Scorpius Scorpius. The crescent Moon is near Venus with Mercury below. The following morning the moon will be near Mercury.

The inset is the telescopic view of Venus at this time.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, January as seen from Adelaide at 22:18 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Saturn is setting in the west, and Jupiter is high in the north-west.

Sagittarius is almost set. Orion is rising in the east.

Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to discover.

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

Mercury is now in the morning twilight in the twilight.It will be close to the Moon on the 10th

Venus is in the morning twilight, it will now sink towards the horizon but will remain easily visible for all of January.Venus will be close to the crescent Moon on the 9th.

Mars is lost in the twilight.

Jupiter is highest around nautical twilight and is now well visible in the late evening sky.

Saturn is past opposition but is still bright and a worthwhile telescopic object.

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