The Sky This Week - Thursday April 18 to Thursday April 25

The Full Moon is Friday April 19. Mars is visible low in the evening skies and is close to the Hades cluster.  Jupiter is low in the late evening skies and is visited by the Moon on the 23rd. The morning skies feature four bright planets Jupiter, Saturn, bright Venus and Mercury. Saturn enters the evening sky and  is occulted by the Moon as seen from eastern and parts of central Australia on the 25th.

The Full Moon is Friday April 19.

Morning  sky on Saturday, April 20 showing the whole sky as  seen from Adelaide at 5:47 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise). Four bright planets can be seen. Jupiter and Saturn are high above the northern horizon. Venus and Mercury are above the eastern horizon. The Moon is above the northern 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, April 20  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 Moon is a finger-width from Jupiter. Io’s shadow is on the surface of Jupiter, and Io will shortly transit Jupiter itself.

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

The view of the Moon facing east at 22:48 am ACST in Adelaide on Thursday 25 April just as Saturn appears from behind the Moon. The moon is close to the horizon.

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in eastern Australia at roughly the equivalent local time, detailed times and observation hints are at my Saturn occultation page.

Evening sky on Saturday, April 20  as seen looking north-west from Adelaide at 18:50 ACST (60 minutes after sunset). Mars is the brightest object above the western horizon

The Hyades also grace the north-western sky. Mars is close to the Hyades and the bright red star Aldebaran.

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

Venus is bright in the morning skies below Jupiter and Saturn and above Mercury. Mercury away from Venus over the week.

Mercury  is now sinking in the morning sky but is still visible below Venus  as it leaves Venus behind.

Jupiter  Jupiter is now rising just before midnight in the evening sky, but is low to the horizon and not a good telescope target until the morning. Jupiter is close to the Moon on the 23rd.

Mars moves through Taurus and is the brightest object in low in the western evening sky. Mars sets around 7:30pm. Mars is close to the Hyades and the bright red star Aldebaran, heading towards the horns of the Bull.

Saturn is climbs higher in the morning sky. It is in an excellent position for telescopic viewing in the early morning. By mid week it has entered the evening sky, on the 25th the Moon occults Saturn as seen from eastern and parts of central Australia.

 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/