Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Thursday 15 October to Thursday October 22
The First Quarter Moon is Monday October 19. The Moon at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on October 17.
Saturn is low above the north-western horizon. Mars is in the heart of the Beehive cluster (M44). Mars forms a line with Jupiter and the bright star Regulus.
The insets shows the telescopic view of Mars Jupiter at this time.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).
Venus is just above the horizon and below Mercury.
Venus is a clear thin "Crescent Moon" shape and is increasing in size. The shape is readily visible in even small telescopes, and even 10x50 binoculars (although the brightness may make it hard to see due to internal lens reflections).
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (45 minutes after sunset).
Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th and is still a magnificent telescopic sight.
The asteroid Vesta is past opposition but is still easily visible in binoculars. Unfortunately there are no bright guide stars to easily get to it, but my Seeing Vesta page has useful printed charts to help locate Vesta.
The insets shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time.
Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).
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| Lunar X and V as seen at sunset on the 18th (although true First Quarter is on the 19th), they will still be visible in the twilight 45 minutes after sunset. The Moon is very obvious above the northwest horizon. | Closer telescopic view of the Lunar X and V at sunset |
Dates and time Lunar X and V are visible. Typically visible from about 4hours from the starting time, times in colour are daylight saving times.
| Date | UT | AEST | ACST | AWST |
| Oct 18 | 05:37 | 16:37 | 16:07 | 13:37 (moon in daylight, X but still visible in twilight) |
The Orionids are a normally worthwhile shower, best seen between 2-4 am, the radiant being just under Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion. This year the waning Moon will significantly interfere with viewing in the early evening and the rates will be low, once the moon sets around 4 am the rates will be better. The best viewing is the mornings of the 21st to 23rd with the highest rates on the morning of the 22nd, when between 4-5 am under dark skies you should see about a meteor every 4-5 minutes or so.
Mercury is high in the the evening twilight above bright Venus.
Venus is becoming bigger and is falling deeper in the twiligh bewlow mercury.
Mars is low in the twilight n0t far from Jupiter.
Jupiter climbs higher the morning twilight but remains low on the horizon forming a line with Mars and the bright star Regulus.
Saturn Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 4th. Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon.
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
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