Tuesday, February 03, 2015The Sky This Week - Thursday February 5 to Thursday February 12The Last Quarter Moon is Thursday February 12. The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest form the Earth, on the 6th. Venus is easy to see low above the western horizon in the twilight. At civil twilight, half an hour after sunset, it is around one and a half hand-spans above the horizon. Venus is also a hand-span below Mars. Mars is still seen low in the western evening sky, setting just before 10:00 pm daylight saving time (just as twilight ends). Mars is becoming harder and harder to see as it lowers deeper into the twilight. As the week goes on Mars and Venus approach each other, the pair will be closest on the 22nd. Jupiter is now easily seen in the late evening sky. It is the brightest object above the north-eastern horizon when twilight ends. It is not far from the bright star Regulus in the sickle of Leo (this forms the head of the constellation of the Lion). Jupiter is high enough for telescopic observation just before midnight, although its visibility will improve in the coming weeks. Jupiter's Moons will be putting on a good display in both binoculars and small telescopes. Jupiter is at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest in our sky, on the 7th. On the 7th Europa and its shadow transits the face of Jupiter from around the end of twilight for about an hour. Saturn climbs still higher in the morning sky. It is now easily visible before twilight near the head of the constellation of the Scorpion not far from the bright red star Antares. The sight of the distinctive constellation of the Scorpion curled above the horizon, with bright Saturn in its head, is very nice indeed. Mercury climbs hight in the morning twilight and should be reasonably easy to see a hand-span above the horizon and hour before sunrise by the end of the week under the Teapot of Sagittarius. In the coming weeks Mercury will be putting on a decent display. There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with the comet in the early evening sky. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums. Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, 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. Labels: weekly sky