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| Tiangong as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Saturday 17 May at 18:38 ACST as it passes by Canopus. Simulated in Stellarium (the Tiangong will actually be a bright dot). Click to embiggen. | Tiangong as seen from Melbourne on the evening of Friday 16 May at 18:32 AEST as it passes by Canopus. Simulated in Stellarium (Tiangong will actually be a bright dot). Click to embiggen. | Tiangong as seen from Perth on the evening of Saturday 17 May at at 18:41 AWST as it passes close to Alpha Centauri. Simulated in Stellarium (Tiangong will actually be a bright dot). Click to embiggen. |
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| All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Friday 9 February for Adelaide. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Friday 9 February for Sydney. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Saturday 17 May for Perth. |
Relatively bright passes of the Chinese space station Tiangong visible in the evening from Australia aren't that common. Over the next few days most of Australia will see bright evening twilight passes of the Tiangong space station (weather permitting). Many of these go very close to bight stars and will be rather dramatic.
There are also some "bright Starlink trains from recent launches in the evening, I will d a separate post soon, after dinner. If you can't wait go to Heavens Above and look at the dedicated pass times for your site for Starlink G15-4, launched 13 May. Also some bright passes of Starlink G6-67 launched on the 14th, for Melbourne and Hobart.
The following tables are from data provided from Heavens Above.
Particularly impressive passes are highlighted in yellow, passes entering the shadow in blue.
Adelaide (ACST):
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 15 May | -0.8 | 19:00:02 | 10° | SW | 19:02:12 | 32° | SSW | 19:02:12 | 32° | SSW | visible |
| 16 May | -1.0 | 17:59:34 | 10° | SW | 18:02:26 | 29° | SSE | 18:04:44 | 14° | ESE | visible |
| 16 May | 0.9 | 19:36:13 | 10° | WSW | 19:36:55 | 15° | WSW | 19:36:55 | 15° | WSW | visible |
| 17 May | -2.1 | 18:35:40 | 10° | WSW | 18:38:50 | 63° | SSE | 18:39:31 | 47° | E | visible |
| 18 May | -0.5 | 19:11:57 | 10° | W | 19:14:25 | 34° | NW | 19:14:25 | 34° | NW | visible |
| 19 May | -2.0 | 18:11:08 | 10° | WSW | 18:14:20 | 74° | NNW | 18:17:18 | 11° | ENE | visible |
| 20 May | 0.4 | 18:47:44 | 10° | W | 18:50:09 | 20° | NW | 18:52:33 | 10° | NNE | visible |
| 21 May | -0.6 | 17:46:31 | 10° | WSW | 17:49:31 | 38° | NNW | 17:52:29 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 22 May | 1.3 | 18:24:20 | 10° | NW | 18:25:05 | 11° | NW | 18:25:51 | 10° | NNW | visible |
Brisbane (AEST):
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 16 May | 0.4 | 18:34:07 | 10° | SSW | 18:34:44 | 13° | SSW | 18:34:44 | 13° | SSW | visible |
| 17 May | 0.2 | 17:34:22 | 10° | S | 17:35:28 | 11° | SSE | 17:36:35 | 10° | SE | visible |
| 18 May | -1.0 | 18:09:16 | 10° | SSW | 18:12:02 | 27° | SSE | 18:12:14 | 26° | SE | visible |
| 19 May | -1.0 | 18:45:02 | 10° | WSW | 18:47:18 | 42° | WSW | 18:47:18 | 42° | WSW | visible |
| 20 May | -1.9 | 17:44:22 | 10° | SW | 17:47:28 | 50° | SSE | 17:50:23 | 11° | ENE | visible |
| 20 May | 1.4 | 19:22:18 | 10° | WNW | 19:22:36 | 11° | WNW | 19:22:36 | 11° | WNW | visible |
| 21 May | -0.3 | 18:20:32 | 10° | WSW | 18:23:22 | 30° | NW | 18:25:58 | 11° | NNE | visible |
| 23 May | 1.0 | 17:56:25 | 10° | WNW | 17:58:15 | 14° | NW | 18:00:04 | 10° | N | visible |
Darwin (ACST):
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 21 May | -1.2 | 19:25:27 | 10° | SSW | 19:28:12 | 28° | SE | 19:28:12 | 28° | SE | visible |
| 22 May | -0.6 | 20:01:10 | 10° | WSW | 20:04:03 | 34° | NW | 20:04:11 | 34° | NW | visible |
| 23 May | -2.3 | 19:00:06 | 10° | SW | 19:03:15 | 76° | SE | 19:06:20 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 24 May | 1.0 | 19:37:07 | 10° | W | 19:38:53 | 14° | NW | 19:40:39 | 10° | N | visible |
Hobart (AEST):
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 15 May | -1.8 | 17:54:23 | 10° | W | 17:57:32 | 63° | N | 18:00:02 | 15° | ENE | visible |
| 15 May | 1.0 | 19:31:20 | 10° | W | 19:32:12 | 15° | WNW | 19:32:12 | 15° | WNW | visible |
| 16 May | -0.9 | 18:30:41 | 10° | W | 18:33:41 | 37° | NNW | 18:34:44 | 28° | NNE | visible |
| 17 May | -1.4 | 17:30:05 | 10° | W | 17:33:12 | 51° | NNW | 17:36:19 | 10° | ENE | visible |
| 17 May | 0.4 | 19:07:23 | 10° | WNW | 19:09:31 | 17° | NNW | 19:09:31 | 17° | NNW | visible |
| 18 May | -0.1 | 18:06:24 | 10° | W | 18:09:09 | 26° | NNW | 18:11:52 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 19 May | 1.0 | 18:43:58 | 10° | NW | 18:44:50 | 11° | NNW | 18:45:42 | 10° | NNW | visible |
| 20 May | 0.7 | 17:42:07 | 10° | WNW | 17:44:21 | 18° | NNW | 17:46:35 | 10° | NNE | visible |
Melbourne (AEST):
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 15 May | -1.5 | 17:54:08 | 10° | WSW | 17:57:12 | 42° | S | 18:00:01 | 12° | ESE | visible |
| 15 May | 0.4 | 19:30:57 | 10° | WSW | 19:32:12 | 21° | WSW | 19:32:12 | 21° | WSW | visible |
| 16 May | -2.2 | 18:30:26 | 10° | WSW | 18:33:37 | 69° | SSE | 18:34:45 | 36° | E | visible |
| 17 May | -1.1 | 19:06:43 | 10° | W | 19:09:31 | 44° | NW | 19:09:31 | 44° | NW | visible |
| 18 May | -2.1 | 18:06:02 | 10° | WSW | 18:09:13 | 79° | NNW | 18:12:14 | 11° | ENE | visible |
| 18 May | 1.2 | 19:43:47 | 10° | WNW | 19:44:26 | 12° | WNW | 19:44:26 | 12° | WNW | visible |
| 19 May | -0.1 | 18:42:26 | 10° | W | 18:45:09 | 26° | NNW | 18:47:18 | 13° | NNE | visible |
| 20 May | -1.1 | 17:41:28 | 10° | W | 17:44:33 | 46° | NNW | 17:47:36 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 21 May | 0.9 | 18:18:18 | 10° | WNW | 18:20:14 | 15° | NW | 18:22:09 | 10° | N | visible |
Perth (AWST):
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 15 May | -0.1 | 19:02:51 | 10° | SW | 19:04:22 | 20° | SSW | 19:04:22 | 20° | SSW | visible |
| 16 May | -0.3 | 18:02:30 | 10° | SW | 18:04:51 | 19° | SSE | 18:06:55 | 11° | SE | visible |
| 16 May | 1.1 | 19:38:49 | 10° | WSW | 19:39:05 | 12° | WSW | 19:39:05 | 12° | WSW | visible |
| 17 May | -1.5 | 18:38:22 | 10° | SW | 18:41:22 | 38° | SSE | 18:41:42 | 36° | SE | visible |
| 18 May | -0.7 | 19:14:26 | 10° | WSW | 19:16:37 | 37° | W | 19:16:37 | 37° | W | visible |
| 19 May | -2.2 | 18:13:44 | 10° | WSW | 18:16:54 | 68° | SSE | 18:19:30 | 14° | ENE | visible |
| 19 May | 1.5 | 19:51:40 | 10° | WNW | 19:51:42 | 10° | WNW | 19:51:42 | 10° | WNW | visible |
| 20 May | -0.2 | 18:50:03 | 10° | W | 18:52:49 | 28° | NW | 18:54:49 | 15° | NNE | visible |
| 21 May | -1.5 | 17:49:00 | 10° | WSW | 17:52:08 | 60° | NNW | 17:55:15 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 22 May | 0.9 | 18:25:58 | 10° | WNW | 18:27:47 | 14° | NW | 18:29:35 | 10° | N | visible |
Sydney (AEST):
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 15 May | -0.6 | 17:56:04 | 10° | SW | 17:58:42 | 23° | S | 18:00:01 | 18° | SE | visible |
| 16 May | -1.3 | 18:32:11 | 10° | SW | 18:34:44 | 39° | S | 18:34:44 | 39° | S | visible |
| 17 May | -1.0 | 17:31:43 | 10° | SW | 17:34:35 | 29° | SSE | 17:37:21 | 10° | ESE | visible |
| 17 May | 0.5 | 19:08:21 | 10° | WSW | 19:09:31 | 20° | WSW | 19:09:31 | 20° | WSW | visible |
| 18 May | -2.2 | 18:07:43 | 10° | WSW | 18:10:53 | 74° | SSE | 18:12:14 | 31° | ENE | visible |
| 19 May | -0.4 | 18:44:04 | 10° | W | 18:46:52 | 28° | NW | 18:47:18 | 27° | NNW | visible |
| 20 May | -1.6 | 17:43:07 | 10° | WSW | 17:46:14 | 59° | NNW | 17:49:21 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 21 May | 0.8 | 18:20:01 | 10° | WNW | 18:21:58 | 15° | NW | 18:23:54 | 10° | N | visible |
When and what you will see is VERY location dependent, so you need to use Heavens Above to get site specific predictions for your location, a small difference in location can mean the difference between Tiangong passing over a star or missing it completely.
As always, start looking several minutes before the pass is going to start to get yourself oriented and your eyes dark adapted. Be patient, there may be slight differences in the time of Tiangong appearing due to orbit changes not picked up by the predictions. Use the most recent prediction for your site.
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