Astroblog: Thursday May 30 to Thursday June 6

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Thursday May 30 to Thursday June 6

The last Quarter Moon is Friday, May 31. Comet 12P Pons-Brooks is visible when the sky is fully dark but remains a binocular only object. The comet leave the iconic Orion constellation behind and moves into Canis Major. In the morning the Moon moves down the lineup of Saturn, Mars and Mercury. Despite claims of a rare alignment of planets being visible to the unaided eye on June 3, the actual alignment on June 5 will be difficult to see.

The last Quarter Moon is Friday, May 31. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closet to earth, on June 2.

Evening sky on Saturday, June 1 as seen from Adelaide at 18:42 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Comet 12P is now above the bright star Arneb in Lepus when the sky is fully dark. The inset shows the binocular view at this time.

The comet has faded to magnitude 6, and you need binoculars. With the Moon rising out of the way the comet is easier to see now. Over the week the comet will climb higher into darker skies heading towards Canis Major. Updated spotters charts are here.

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

Morning sky on Monday, June 3 as seen from Adelaide at 06:18 ACST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). The crescent Moon, Saturn, Mars and Mercury make an attractive lineup. Despite what some sources say, while Uranus and Neptune are in the line-up they are not visible to the unaided eye. Jupiter is too deep in the twilight to be readily seen.The Moon is close to Mars.

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 (60 minutes before sunrise).

Morning sky on Wednesday, June 5 as seen from Adelaide at 06:32 ACST, (45 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). The crescent Moon is near Mercury an Jupiter deep in the twilight. You may need binoculars to see Jupiter and Mercury. Saturn and Mars will be barely visible. The inset is the binocular view of Mercury and Jupiter 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, June 1 as seen from Adelaide at 18:42 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Orion is low on the north-west horizon. Bright Sirius is still dominant in the north-western sky. Scorpius now well visible above the Eastern horizon. Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are a wealth of binocular objects to discover. The fainter clusters will be be better with the moon no longer in the evening sky.

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

Mercury sinks into the twilight and is soon lost to view. Mercury and Jupiter are close on the 5th.

Venus is lost in the morning twilight.

Mars is rising in the morning twilight. Mars is close to the crescent Moon on the 3rd.

Jupiter returns to the the morning twilight sky. Mercury and Jupiter are close on the 5th.

Saturn climbs higher in the morning twilight. Saturn is close to the crescent Moon on the 1st.

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