Wednesday, March 21, 2018
The Sky This Week - Thursday March 22 to Thursday March 29
The First Quarter Moon is Sunday, March 25. The Moon is at Perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 27th.
Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (30 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).
Venus is rising higher in the twilight. You will still need a flat unobscured horizon, like the ocean or the desert to see it at its best. Venus is now visible to the unaided eye (just) from 15 minutes after sunset andr elatively easy to see 30 minutes after sunset.
The inset is a simulated telescopic view of Jupiter and its moons at this time.
Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).
Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).
Venus is low in the evening twilight although it is climbing out of the horizon murk, being just five finger-widths above the horizon 30 minutes after sunset. It is bright enough to be just visible 15 minutes after sunset.
Mercury is lost to view.
Jupiter is rising well before midnight, but it is still best to view in the morning sky, where it is high above the northern horizon. There are some good Jovian Moon events this week.
Mars is in Sagittarius the archer. Mars is moving away from the Triffid and Lagoon nebulae and towards Saturn. Mars and the Triffid and Lagoon nebulae are visible together in binoculars. Mars and Saturn are now within binocular ange of each other. Scanning with binoculars around Mars and Saturn will be very rewarding now the Moon is out of the way.
Saturn climbs higher in the morning sky. It is within binocular range of several attractive clusters and nebula. It is coming closer to the bright globular cluster M22 and the pair are visible in binoculars and wide field telescope eyepieces.Mars and Saturn are within binocular range of each other this week.
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.
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