The Sky This Week - Thursday May 23 to Thursday May 30

The Last Quarter Moon is Monday May 27. Mars is visible low in the evening twilight. Jupiter is easily visible in the evening skies. The dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition, when it is easily visible in binoculars, on the 29th. Saturn climbs higher in the late evening skies and is very close to the Moon on morning of the 23rd.  The morning skies feature three bright planets Jupiter, Saturn and bright Venus. Venus is closing in on the horizon.

The Last Quarter Moon is Monday May 27. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth, on the 26th.

Morning  sky on Saturday, May 25 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 6:11 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise).  Three bright planets can be seen. Jupiter and Saturn are high above the north-western and northern horizon forming a line with the Moon. Venus is low above the eastern horizon.

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

Morning sky on Thursday, May 23 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 6:10 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise).  Saturn is very close the the waning Moon. There is a daytime occultation of Saturn (as seen in the inset at 8:38 ACST), this will be telescope only and should only be attempted by experienced amateurs.

 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, May 25  looking east as seen from Adelaide. Ceres is below Antares and bright eogh 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 just emerging after transiting the face of 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 higer 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 Saturday, May 25  as seen looking north-west from Adelaide at 18:14ACST (60 minutes after sunset). Mars is in the constellation of Gemini forming a triangle with eta and mu Geminorum.

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 althouigh it is coming closer to the horizon.

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 leaves Taurus and enters Gemini. Mars forms a triangle with eta and mu Geminorum early in the week, then heads towards epsilon Geminorum. Mars sets around 7:30pm.

Saturn  climbs higher in the evening sky but it still best for telescopic viewing in the early morning. The Moon is very close to Saturn on the morning of the 23rd, with a daytime occultation seen from most of Australia. This will be telescope only and should only be attempted by experienced amateurs. Later in the evening the Moon is still near Saturn.

 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/