Skywatchers' Journal (Southern Hemisphere)

[Michaelangelica]

==== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ===
Over the next couple of weeks we are going to see some outstanding evening skies.
Comet 73P is fading fast, but is well placed for binocular viewing between 4.00-5.00am this week.
The First Quarter Moon is Sunday June 4. In the early evening, ruddy Mars is just above the northwestern horizon in Gemini, not far from Saturn.
Saturn is on the border of the Beehive cluster for most of this week, an outstanding sight in binoculars or a small telescope, especially under dark skies.
On Thursday June 1 Mars, Saturn and the Crescent Moon make an attractive grouping. Initially, Mars forms line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux.
But during the week, Mars steadily approaches Saturn, in preparation for a spectacular meeting next week.

On June 7 the Moon is extremely close to the bright star Spica.
Jupiter rises in the late evening and is the brightest object above the eastern horizon.

In the dawn sky bright Venus is readily seen above the eastern horizon. For comet spotting maps see
http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

[Michaelangelica]

==== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ===
The New Moon is Monday June 26.

In the early evening (6-7pm local time) you can see ruddy Mars, golden Saturn and coppery Mercury strung out in a line just above the north-western horizon.

Mercury comes closer to Saturn during the week, and next Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 the thin crescent Moon joins the line-up - get the cameras out for this.

In the dawn sky bright Venus is readily seen above the north-eastern horizon.

On the morning of Friday June 23, the crescent Moon will be to the left of Venus, above the Pleiades cluster, a rather attractive sight.

For further information see http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

[Jay-qu]

Cool havent been out in a while, but now holidays have started I have time for things like this. Also winter makes for some nice dark skies!

[Michaelangelica]

==== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ===
The First Quarter Moon is Wednesday August 3.

In the early evening you can see golden Saturn just above the north-western horizon, by the end of the week it will be too close to the Sun to see.

Mars is close to bright Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, although it is moving away.

On Thursday July 27, Mars, Regulus and the crescent Moon make an attractive triangle.

Jupiter is the brightest object high in the northern evening sky, ideally suited for spying on its moons with binoculars or small telescopes.

On Wednesday August 2 the Moon is near Jupiter.

In the dawn sky bright Venus is seen just above the north-eastern horizon with Mercury just below Venus.

Over the week Mercury and Venus draw closer together.

For further information see http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

[Michaelangelica]

This is a site you might like to subscribe to
(It is free)

Ian Musgrave & Peta O'Donohue
<reynella@mira.net> to ian.musgrave
More options 08:07(6 hours ago)
G'Day All
(sorry to recent subscribers I haven't replied to)

Night Owls will have a bit of a show in the very late evening of
Thursday 7 September and early morning Friday 8 September.

At roughly midnight on the 7th (roughly 10:00 pm in Perth), the Moon
will occult Uranus. This is strictly a telescopic occultation, as
Uranus's measly 5.7 magnitude will be drowned out by the Full Moons
light.
Still, even in a modest telescope Uranus's tiny disk should be
seen going behind the Moon (for local occulation times see here
http://home.mira.net/%7Ereynella/sky...sky.htm#Occult ). The Full
Moon will be high in the sky, and Uranus should be obvious in a telescope.

If you wait a few hours after that (roughly around 4:00 am except WA,
which is more like 2:00 am) , you can see a Partial Lunar Eclipse.
It won't be spectacular, only 19% of the Moon will be in Earths shadow,
but it will be better than the last eclipse we had, and fairly nice.
Local contact times for Australia are here
http://home.mira.net/%7Ereynella/sky...ky.htm#Eclipse .

Cheers! Ian

To unsubscribe from aurora alert, send an email to
reynella@werple.mira.net.au with "unsubscribe aurora alert" as the subject.

[Jay-qu]

That looks cool

Regretfully I have not got out to have a look at the stars much at all these past few months.. When I eventually upgrade my scope I will make more of an effort

[Turtle]

Tonight is the Full Moon for everyone in the world, and also it appears larger tonight than any other day of the year because it is at perigee.
Special notice for you Aussies too, as you may see a partial Lunar eclipse.
Story on front page of spaceweather as of this post time:
http://www.spaceweather.com/
Eye'll bee watchin'!

[Chacmool]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Tonight is the Full Moon for everyone in the world, and also it appears larger tonight than any other day of the year because it is at perigee.
Special notice for you Aussies too, as you may see a partial Lunar eclipse.
Story on front page of spaceweather as of this post time:
http://www.spaceweather.com/
Eye'll bee watchin'!

Hey, and what about us South Africans? We'll see a 19% eclipse. I'll be thinking of you all when I look at the moon tonight!

[Michaelangelica]

Captain cook was into this

Ian Musgrave & Peta O'Donohue
<reynella@mira.net> to ian.musgrave
More options 10:29(12 hours ago)
G'Day All

Things have been pretty quiet recently, but on the morning of
Thursday, November 9 will be a rare transit of Mercury across the
Sun. Eastcoasters will see the entire event, central states will see
the Sun rise with the transit underway, and western Australians will
see the transit start from midway.As this is the last observable for
32 years from Australia, it's worthwhile having a look.

Full details of timings, safe observing tip and techniques and webcam
locations for those clouded out are at
http://home.mira.net/%7Ereynella1/as...y/trans_06.htm
Remember, NEVER look directly at the Sun, you will damage your eyes.

The transit is best observed using a telescope with safe projection
proceedures, but binocular projection will work as well (see above
site). There are some good Sunspots at the moment, so you can test
your projection setup on them,
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/syn...i_sunspots.jpg

Also coming up, the Leonid meteor shower on the morning of the 19th

Cheers! Ian

To unsubscribe from aurora alert, send an email to
reynella@werple.mira.net.au with "unsubscribe aurora alert" as the subject.

================================================== ====
Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis and Michael James Musgrave
reynella@werple.mira.net.au http://werple.mira.net.au/~reynella/
Southern Sky Watch http://www.abc.net.au/science/space/default.htm

================================================== ====
Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis, Michael James and Andrew
Thomas Musgrave
reynella@mira.net http://home.mira.net/~reynella/
Southern Sky Watch http://www.abc.net.au/science/space/default.htm
(scroll down right hand menu)
AstroBlogg http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/
Sky & Space http://www.skyandspace.com.au/public/home.ehtml

[Michaelangelica]

On 15/11/06, Ian Musgrave & Peta O'Donohue <reynella@mira.net> wrote:

G'Day All

Sunspot
923
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/syn...i_sunspots.jpg
is now big enough to be seen with safe solar projection techniques
http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/200...23-is-big.html but
there is no sign of any aurora producing flares.

The Leonid meteor shower will be visible in the north-east on the
morning of Sunday, November 19th between 3:00 and 5:00 am (daylight
saving time). Unfortunately, the peak will occur during the day, but
we may see some nice meteors anyway. See
http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/200...-november.html
for details, skymaps, observing hints and more.

Cheers! Ian

To unsubscribe from aurora alert, send an email to
reynella@werple.mira.net.au with "unsubscribe aurora alert" as the subject.

================================================== ====
Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis and Michael James Musgrave
reynella@werple.mira.net.au http://werple.mira.net.au/~reynella/
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~ianm/nchem.htm (professional)
Dawkins inspired weasle programs
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~ianm/whale.htm
Southern Sky Watch http://www.abc.net.au/science/space/default.htm