The Sky This Week - Thursday May 9 to Thursday May 16

The First Quarter Moon is Sunday May 12. Saturn climbs higher in the late evening skies. Mars is visible low in the evening twilight and forms forms a triangle with the stars that mark the tips of Taurus the Bulls horns.  Jupiter is easily visible in the evening skies. The morning skies feature three bright planets Jupiter, Saturn and bright Venus.

The New Moon is Sunday May 12. The moon is at Perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 14th.

Morning  sky on Saturday, May 11 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 6:02 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise).  Three bright planets can be seen. Jupiter and Saturn are high above the north-western and northern horizon. Venus is low above the eastern horizon.

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

Sky at 23:00 ACST on Saturday, May 11  looking east as seen from Adelaide. Jupiter is low above the eastern horizon. The left upper insert inset shows the telescopic view of Jupiter at this time, the left lower insert that of Saturn. 

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time.

Evening sky on Saturday, May 11  as seen looking north-west from Adelaide at 18:22 ACST (60 minutes after sunset). Mars forms a triangle with the stars Alnath and Zeta Taurii which mark the tips of Taurus the Bulls horns. The crescent Moon is just above Mars.

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

Venus is still bright in the morning twilight.

Mercury  is now lost in the twilight.

Jupiter  Jupiter is now visible in the mid evening sky. Although is now a good telescope target it is still at its best in the morning.

Mars continues moving through Taurus heading towards Gemni. At the beginning of the week Mars form a triangle with the stars Alnath and Zeta Taurii which mark the tips of Taurus the Bulls horns. The crescent Moon is just above Mars at this time. 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/