Astroblog: Thursday February 19 to Thursday February 26

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Thursday February 19 to Thursday February 26

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday February 24. The Lunar X can bee seen at First Quarter. Saturn is low in the western twilight. Saturn is near the thin crescent Moon on the 20th. Jupiter dominates the northern sky. It forms a broad triangle with the bright stars Betelgeuse and Procyon, and a narrower triangle with the stars Castor and Pollux. Uranus can be seen in binoculars above the Pleiades cluster. The variable star Mira may be visible in the evening.

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday February 24. Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) on the 25th.

North-western sky on the evening of Saturday, February 21 as seen from Adelaide at 21:32 ACDST ( 90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

The planet Uranus is theoretically visible to the unaided eye from Dark sky locations, as it is magnitude 5.7, but it is best seen with binoculars. The beautiful and obvious Pleiades cluster is the signpost to the faint planet. The waxing moon will not interfere until later in the week.

The inset is the binocular view of the Pleiades and Uranus at this time.

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

Western sky on Friday, February 20 as seen from Adelaide at 20:45 ACDST (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Saturn is low in the western twilight.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (45 minutes after sunset).

North-eastern sky on Saturday, February 21 as seen from Adelaide at 21:32 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on January the 10th, but will be bright for many months. Jupiter forms a broad triangle with the bright stars Betelgeuse and Procyon, and a narrower triangle with the stars Castor and Pollux.

The inset shows the 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 after sunset).

Sky looking North-west on Tuesday February 24 as seen from Adelaide at 20:56 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

The First Quarter Moon is clearly visible above the horizon close to he Pleiades cluster. the Lunar X and V may bee seen in a telescope or strong binoculars. The insets show the telescopic and binocular views at this time.

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

Whole sky on Saturday, February 14 as seen from Adelaide at 21:52 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Saturn has set. Jupiter is prominent in the north.

Bright Canopus and Sirius are near the Zenith. Orion is now high in the north-western sky.

The Southern Cross is low in the Southern sky. The moon is waxing and the fainter clusters and nebula are becoming harder to see.

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

Mercury is lost in the twilight.

Venus is lost in the twilight glow.

Mars is lost in the twilight.

Jupiter climbs in the morning twilight and is now rising before astronomical twilight. Jupiter forms a broad triangle with the bright stars Betelgeuse and Procyon, and a narrower triangle with the stars Castor and Pollux Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on January the 10th.

Saturn is the brightest object in the north-western skies but is getting lower in the twilight. Saturn is near the thin crescent Moon on the 20th.

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