The Sky This Week - Thursday May 30 to Thursday June 6

The New Moon is Monday June 3. Mars is visible low in the evening twilight and is visted by the crescent Moon on the 5th. Jupiter is easily visible in the evening skies. The dwarf planet Ceres is just past opposition and is easily visible in binoculars,. Saturn climbs higher in the late evening skies.  The morning skies feature three bright planets Jupiter, Saturn and bright Venus. Venus is closing in on the horizon and is visited by the thin resent Moon on the 2nd. Mercury returns to the evening skies.

The New Moon is Monday June 3.

Morning  sky on Saturday, June 1  as seen from Adelaide at 6:18 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise).  Three bright planets can be seen. Jupiter and Saturn are above the western and north-western horizon. Venus is low above the eastern horizon with the crescent Moon above it.

 Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Morning sky on Sunday, June 2 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 6:18 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise).  Venus is very close to the thin crescent Moon.

 Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Sky at 22:00 ACST on Saturday, June 1 looking east as seen from Adelaide. Ceres is below Antares and bright enough to be easily seen in binoculars. Jupiter is high above the eastern horizon with Saturn below. The left upper insert inset shows the telescopic view of Jupiter at this time, the left lower insert that of Saturn. Io is  transiting the face of Jupiter and Ganymede is about to be occulted by Jupiter.

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

Sky at 22:00 ACST on Saturday, May 25  looking east as seen from Adelaide. This is a higher magnification spotters map to find the dwarf planet Ceres.

While Ceres is at its brightest on the 29th, it is easily visible before and after the 29th, and is moving reasonably slowly. It  is below and to the north of Antares with easily visible guide stars.

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

Evening sky on Wednesday,  June 5  as seen looking north-west from Adelaide at 17:55 ACST (45 minutes after sunset). Mars is in the constellation of Gemini and close to the thin crescent Moon, Mercury is just above the horizon.

Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is still bright in the morning twilight although it is coming closer to the horizon. It ius close to the thin crescent Moon on the 2nd.

Mercury  returns to the evening twilight, but is best seen with a level, clear horizon.

Jupiter  Jupiter is now visible in the mid evening sky. It is now a good telescope target in the evening.

Mars is in Gemini. Mars heads towards epsilon Geminorum and is closest on the 1st and 2nd. Mars is close to the thin crescent Moon on the 5th. Mars sets around 7:30pm.

Saturn  climbs higher in the evening sky but it still best for telescopic viewing in the early morning.

 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.

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/