Thursday May 2 to Thursday May 9

The New Moon is Wednesday, May 8.  Comet 12P Pons-Brooks is visible in binoculars and will progressively climb higher over the week heading for the iconic Orion constellation. Between 3 and 6 May the waning Moon joins the lineup of Saturn, Mars and Mercury. On the 4th there is a spectacular close approach of the Moon to Saturn, with a daytime occultation in the eastern states. On the 5th The Moon is close to Mars and on the 6th it is close to Mercury. On the 6th-8th the eta Aquariid meteor shower is visible in the morning sky.

The New Moon is Wednesday, May 8. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to Earth, on the 6th.

Evening sky on Saturday, May 4 as seen from Adelaide at 18:27 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).   Comet 12P is rising higher in the evening twilight.

While the comet is a reasonable bright magnitude 4.7, it is still not too far from the horizon. You will definitely need binoculars. Over the week the comet will climb higher into darker skies and. Updated spotters charts are here.

Evening sky on Thursday, May 9 as seen from Adelaide at 18:52 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Comet 12P is below Orion close to the star nu Eridanus in the constellation of the river.

While the comet is a modestly bright magnitude 5, despite now being visible when the sky is fully dark, you will still need binoculars. Over the week the comet will climb towards Orion and into darker skies, but becomes dimmer as it rises. Updated spotters charts are here.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).

Morning sky on Saturday, May 4  as seen from Adelaide at 05:57ACST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). The Moon is very close to Saturn with Mars and Mercury below. The eastern states see a daytime occultation of Saturn in the morning.

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).

The Moon at 9:03 am AEST in Sydney on Saturday 4 May just as Saturn disappears behind the Moon. The insets shows the telescope view of Saturn going behind the Moon (left) and emerging from behind the Moon at 9:22 am AEST (right)

 

For detailed times and observing hints see the occultation page.  

Morning sky on Sunday, May 5  as seen from Adelaide at 05:59ACST, (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). The Moon is very close to Mars  with Saturn above and Mercury below.

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).

The north-eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am ACST on 7 May, the eta Aquariid radiant is marked with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen). 
The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak on May 6 (strictly speaking May 5, 21UT). 

 

Detailed times and charts are at the eta Aquariid meteor page.  

 

 

 

Whole sky on Saturday, May 4 as seen from Adelaide at 18:56 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Orion is low in the north-west. Bright Sirius is still dominant in  the north-western sky. Scorpius is rising in the East. Between the bright star Canopus and the Southern Cross are a wealth of binocular objects to discover. As the Moon wanes , the fainter clusters will be visible again.

   

 Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

Mercury climbs higher into the twilight. On the 6th the Moon is close to Mercury.

Venus is lost in the morning twilight.

Mars is rising in the morning twilight.  On the 5th The Moon is close to Mars.

Jupiter is lost in the twilight sky.

Saturn climbs higher in the morning twilight. On the 4th there is a spectacular close approach of the Moon to Saturn, with a daytime occultation in the eastern states.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. 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 the 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/