The Sky This Week - Thursday June 8 to Thursday June 15

The Full Moon Moon is Thursday June 10. Earth is at Perihelion on the 4th. Mars is lost in the twilight. Jupiter and the bright star Spica are nearby in the evening sky and are visited by the Moon on the 4th. Saturn is in the evening sky in the heart of the Milky Way. Venus climbs higher in the morning sky, with Mercury below it.  Venus is close to Uranus on the 3rd and 4th. Comet C/2015 V2 Johnson may be visible in binoculars in the northern sky.

The Full Moon Moon is Thursday June 10. Earth is at Perihelion (where it is furthest from the Sun) on the 4th. The Moon is at apogee (where it is furthest from the Earth) on the 8th. That means this full Moon is a micro-Moon. 

 Evening sky on Saturday June 10 looking north as seen from Adelaide at 19:51 ACST (when Jupiter is highest in the sky).  Jupiter is above the horizon between the bright star Spica and the relatively bright star Porrima. Jupiter is now closer to Porrima than Spica. The inset shows the telescopic view of Jupiter at 18:00 ACST of Friday June 3.

Comet C/2015 V2 is moderately high above the horizon near Arcturus.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is rising before dusk and is now reasonably high above the horizon in the early evening this week. It is in between the bright star Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo, and the relatively bright star Porrima. Jupiter is now closer to Porrima than Spica.

Opposition, when Jupiter is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, was on April the 8th. Jupiter is rising before the sun sets and is visible until the early morning. Jupiter is a good telescopic target from astronomical twilight on, and the dance of its Moons is visible even in binoculars. The following Jupiter events are in AEST.

Mon 8 May 1:04 Io : Disappears into Occultation
Mon 8 May 2:33 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Mon 8 May 3:57 Io : Reappears from Eclipse
Mon 8 May 18:56 Eur: Transit Begins T
Mon 8 May 20:20 Eur: Shadow Transit Begins ST
Mon 8 May 21:22 Eur: Transit Ends S
Mon 8 May 22:21 Io : Transit Begins ST
Mon 8 May 22:24 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Mon 8 May 22:47 Eur: Shadow Transit Ends T
Mon 8 May 23:02 Io : Shadow Transit Begins ST
Tue 9 May 0:32 Io : Transit Ends S
Tue 9 May 1:13 Io : Shadow Transit Ends
Tue 9 May 18:15 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Tue 9 May 19:31 Io : Disappears into Occultation
Tue 9 May 22:26 Io : Reappears from Eclipse
Wed 10 May 4:11 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Wed 10 May 17:31 Io : Shadow Transit Begins ST
Wed 10 May 17:36 Eur: Reappears from Eclipse ST
Wed 10 May 18:58 Io : Transit Ends S
Wed 10 May 19:42 Io : Shadow Transit Ends
Thu 11 May 0:02 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Thu 11 May 19:54 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Sat 13 May 1:41 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Sat 13 May 21:15 Gan: Transit Begins T
Sat 13 May 21:32 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Sat 13 May 23:33 Gan: Transit Ends
Sun 14 May 0:25 Gan: Shadow Transit Begins S
Sun 14 May 2:44 Gan: Shadow Transit Ends
Sun 14 May 2:55 Eur: Disappears into Occultation
Sun 14 May 17:23 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian
Mon 15 May 2:51 Io : Disappears into Occultation
Mon 15 May 3:19 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian

Evening  sky on Saturday June 10 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 18:41 ACST.  Saturn is reasonably high above the horizon. The Full Moon is below Saturn

The inset shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).

 Saturn is visible in the evening skies this week. Saturn is a good telescopic target from 10 pm on. It continues to climb into the evening skies as the week progresses. It is within binocular distance of the Triffid and Lagoon nebula and makes a very nice sight in binoculars. This week the light of the Moon washes ourt the nebula and clusters.

Saturn is at opposition next week, but watching the rings over the coming week should see them brighten ahead of the planet,

The constellation of Scorpio is a good guide to locating Saturn. The distinctive curl of Scorpio is easy to see above the north-eastern horizon, locate the bright red star, Antares, and the look below that towards the horizon, the next bright object is Saturn.

Comet C/2015 V2 is in a good position to view at the moment, it is dimmer than predicted at around magnitude 8, while with good binoculars and under dark skies it should be visible as a fuzzy dot. The bright star Arcturus is readily visible and you can star hop from it down to the comet. For more details off how to view the comet see here. The light of the waxing Moon will make the comet harder to spot.

 Mars is lost in the twilight.

 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/