The Sky This Week - Thursday March 19 to Thursday March 26

The New Moon is Tuesday, March 24. Venus is prominent in the evening sky well after twilight. Four bright planets will be visible in the morning skies. Mars heads towards Jupiter with Saturn below. On the 19th Mars, Jupiter Saturn and the crescent moon from an attractive grouping in the sky. Mars and Jupiter are closest on the 21st. Mercury is low to the horizon and is close to the crescent Moon on the 22nd. The Red Giant star Betelgeuse in Orion is still dim but is brightening.

The New Moon is Tuesday, March 24.The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on the 25th.

Sky at 20:20 ACDST on Saturday, March 21 (60 minutes after sunset) looking west as seen from Adelaide. Venus is prominent in the sky. The inset shows the telescopic view of Venus at this time. Venus is a distinct “half Moon” shape.

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

Morning sky at 5:53 ACDST (90 minutes minutes before sunrise) facing east as seen from Adelaide on Thursday, March 19.

Four bright planets are dominating the morning skies. Mars is coming closer to Jupiter and the crescent Moon forms an attractive pattern with Jupiter, Mars and Saturn on the 19th.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).

Morning sky at 5:55 ACDST (90 minutes minutes before sunrise) facing east as seen from Adelaide on Saturday, March 21.

Mars is at its closest to Jupiter;Saturn the crescent Moon and Mercury are below the pair. The inset shows the wide filed telescopic view at this time.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).

Morning sky at 5:56 ACDST (90 minutes minutes before sunrise) facing east as seen from Adelaide on Sunday, March 22.

Mercury is close to the thin crescent Moon.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).

Evening sky looking north-west at 20:50 ACDST on Saturday, Saturday, March 21. (90 minutes after sunset). Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. Orion is readily visible. Betelgeuse is the bright red star below the “saucepan” of Orion.

Betelgeuse has begun brightening again, so keep watching this iconic star.

Betelgeuse is a red giant star which forms a distinctive part of the Constellation of Orion. It is a variable star, with small fluctuations in brightness not visible to the casual observer.

Betelgeuse has dimmed substantially and reached a minimum of around magnitude 1.6, but is now brightening again and is about magnitude 1.2. It is still visibly dimmer than magnitude 1 Aldebaran and brighter than Bellatrix. The next brightest star just to the west of Betelgeuse. Keep an eye on this historic dimming and re-brightening event, observing hints and stars for magnitude estimation are given here. The new moon will not interfere with estimates of  Betelgeuses’ brightness during the  week.

Venus is prominent above the western horizon in the early evening sky. Venus is now readily seen up to 90 minutes after sunset. Venus will come closer to the beautiful Pleiades cluster over the coming weeks.

Four bright planets grace the morning sky and are joined by the crescent moon on the 19th-22nd. On the 19th Mars, Jupiter Saturn and the crescent moon from an attractive grouping in the sky.

Mercury climbs higher the morning sky and getting visibly brighter as it goes. It is close to the thin crescent Moon on the 22nd.

 Mars is visible high in the morning sky. On the 19th Mars, Jupiter Saturn and the crescent moon from an attractive grouping in the sky. Mars comes closer to Jupiter and is at its closest on the 21st.

Jupiter climbs higher in the morning sky, closing in on Mars. It is near the thin crescent Moon on the 19th.

Saturn climbs higher in the morning sky below Jupiter. It is near the thin crescent Moon on the 19th and 20th.

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/