The Sky This Week - Thursday May 31 to Thursday June 7

The Last Quarter Moon is Thursday, June 7.  Venus is high in the early evening sky. Jupiter is past opposition, but is still big and bright in telescopes. Jupiter is close to the bright star alpha Librae all this week. Venus is setting as Jupiter is rising. Mars and Saturn are visible in the late evening skies. The waning Moon is close to Saturn on June 1, between Saturn and Mars on June 2 and close to Mars on June 3. Asteroid Vesta leaves  M24 and heads towards M23.

The Last Quarter Moon is Thursday, June 7. The Moon is at Apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on June 3.

Evening twilight sky on Saturday June 2 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 18:11 ACST (60 minutes after sunset). Venus is close to stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini. The inset shows a simulated telescopic view of Venus.

 Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is now visible in the early evening. Venus is visible to the unaided eye from sunset, easy to see 30-60 minutes after sunset and can viewed  up to 90 minutes after sunset.

Evening sky on Saturday June 2 looking east  as seen from Adelaide at 18:42 ACST (90 minutes after sunset). Jupiter is  well above the horizon, close to the bright star alpha Librae

The inset is a simulated telescopic view of Jupiter and its moons at 18:27 ACST, on the 3rd with Europa and its shadow passing across the face of Jupiter.

Similar views will be seen throughout Australia 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Evening sky on Saturday June 2 looking east  as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 ACST. Saturn is high above the horizon and Mars is clearly visible. The Asteroid Vesta is visible in binoculars near Saturn. The Moon is between Saturn and Mars.

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

Binocular view of the region near Saturn showing the open cluster M24 and Vesta on Saturday June 2 looking east  as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 ACST. Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Vesta is now bright enough to be easily seen in binoculars. It is travelling past the northern edge of the open cluster M24 heading towards the open cser M23. It is brighter than most of the stars in the cluster, but you may need to watch over several nights to watch it move.

 Venus  is  readily visible above the horizon. It is over two hand-spans above the horizon 60 minutes after sunset. It is bright enough to be visible just after sunset and easy to see up to 60 minutes after sunset. Venus can be viewed for at least 90 minutes after sunset if you have a flat, unobstructed horizon.

Mercury is no longer visible i te twilight glow, and will return to the evening skies mid June.

Jupiter  is rising in the early evening as Venus is setting. It was at Opposition on the 9th, and is still visible most of the night. It is  a good telescopic object in the mid to  late evening. There are some good Jovian Moon events this week. Over the week Jupiter is within a finger-width of  the bright star alpha Librae (Zubenelgenubi).

 Mars is in Capricornius and is now rising in the late evening. Mars is moving away from Saturn and  brightening ahead of opposition later this year. The waning Moon is close to Mars on the 2nd and 3rd.

Saturn is climbing higher the evening sky, although telescopically it is still best in the morning sky. It is within binocular range of several attractive clusters and nebula. It is close to the bright globular cluster M22 and the pair are visible in binoculars and wide field telescope eyepieces. Saturn is close to the Moon on the1st and 2nd.

The asteroid Vesta is now bright enough to be easily seen in binoculars. It is travelling along the northern edge of the open cluster M24. It is brighter than most of the stars in the cluster, but you may need to watch over several nights to watch it move and be sure of its identity. Printable spotters chars are here.

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/