Thursday August 17 to Thursday August 24

The First Quarter Moon is Thursday, August 24.  Three of the bright classical planets, Mercury, Mars and Saturn) are visible when the sky is fully dark. Saturn is now rising around 6:30 pm local time, ahead of opposition next week. Mercury is now prominent in the late twilight and is close to Mars. On the 19th Mercury, Mars and the thin crescent moon form a line. Jupiter is prominent in the morning sky making a triangle with the Pleiades and Hyades.

The First Quarter Moon is Thursday, August 24. 

Evening sky on Saturday, August 19 as seen from Adelaide at 21:00 ACST, Saturn is above the eastern horizon. The inset is the telescopic view of Saturn at this time.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time.

Morning sky on Saturday, August 19 as seen from Adelaide at 05:27 ACST, (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Jupiter is above the horizon near the Hyades and Pleiades. The inset is the telescopic view of Jupiter at this time. 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).  

Evening sky on Saturday, August 19 as seen from Adelaide at 18:43 ACST, 60 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mercury is close to Mars and is the brighter of the pair. The thin crescent Moon form a line with Mercury and Mars. The inset is the telescopic view of Mercury at this time.

Whole sky on Saturday, August 19 as seen from Adelaide at 19:12 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen). Mars is visible low above the north western horizon close to Mercury. Saturn is just rising in the east.

Scorpius and Sagittarius are readily visible near the zenith.

Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are another wealth of binocular objects to discover.

   

 Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

Mercury is now prominent in the twilight and is close to Mars. On the 19th Mercury, Mars and the thin crescent moon form a line.

Venus is lost in the twilight.

Mars is dimming, and is just above Mercury. On the 19th Mercury, Mars and the thin crescent moon form a line.

Jupiter is prominent in the morning sky.

Saturn  is now rising around 6:30 pm local time.

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.

 

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/