The Sky This Week - Thursday November 28 to Thursday December 5

The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday December 4.  Venus climbs even higher in the evening twilight closing in on Saturn. The crescent Moon is close to Venus on the 29th. Venus is close to the globular cluster M22 on December 3.  Jupiter is difficult to see low in the evening twilight. Saturn is above Jupiter and Venus, higher in the western evening skies.  The crescent Moon is close to Saturn on the 30th. Asteroid Vesta visible in binoculars. Mars and Mercury visible in the morning twilight.

The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday December 4. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on Thursday 5 December.

Sky at 21:16 ACDST on Friday 29 November (60 minutes after sunset) looking west as seen from Adelaide. Venus and the Moon are close with Saturn above the pair.

The left upper insert shows the telescopic view of Jupiter at this time. The lower right is that of Saturn at the same magnification and the lower left is Venus.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen.

Sky at 21:16 ACDST on Saturday 30 November (60 minutes after sunset) looking west as seen from Adelaide. The crescent Moon  and Saturn are close with Venus below the pair.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia 60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen.

Morning sky at 5:27 ACDST facing east as seen from Adelaide on Saturday 30 November 30 minutes before sunrise.

Mars is low above the horizon just below Spica and above Mercury. You may need binoculars to see Mercury.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (30 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

The North-east horizon as seen in Adelaide at 21:56 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset) Saturday 30 November showing the location of Vesta (click to embiggen). The inset is the binocular view of Vesta and the prominent guide star.

Vesta is currently easy to find, not far from the bright star Menkar and up from the two brightish stars that form the foreleg of Taurus the bull. Vesta was brightest on the 12th, but is still bright enough to be easily seen in binoculars.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time, (90 minutes after sunset). A spotter guide with printable charts is here.

Venus is higher above the western horizon in the late evening twilight. Venus is now readily seen up to 90 minutes after sunset.Venus comes closer to Saturn over the week as it leaves Jupiter behind. The crescent Moon is close to Venus on the 29th. Venus is close to the globular cluster M22 on December 3.

Mercury is climbing out of  the twilight but is still difficult to see.

Jupiter   is visible in the western sky  and is located beside the distinctive tail of the constellation of Scorpius and below Venus. Jupiter sets around 90 minutes after sunset.

Mars is just visible in the morning twilight near the bright star Spica and above Mercury

Saturn  is above Jupiter and Venus and near the “handle” of the “teapot of Sagittarius. It is best for telescopic viewing from just around astronomical twilight local time until around 10:00 pm. Venus comes closer to Saturn over the week and the crescent Moon is close to Saturn on the 30th.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEDST, Western sky at 10 pm AEDST. 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 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/