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Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

OwlunarSenior Contributor07 May 2017, 11:07 am AEST

Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Hi @outlander, @Former-Member and @utopia

Hi Utopia - I tagged you for this one because I recollect you are interested in Astronomy - and this is a little thread I will run because I love this stuff and will enjoy sharing it with others

I have a book I get for Christmas every year which tells me when anything interesting is happening - I can't see everything from my place - the Melbourne weather - pollution in the atmosphere and my low horizon is not good for starters - but I can tell you what you could see easily right now - weather being clear of course

The moon is past half and is visible in the afternoon sky and after dark it's near the bright planet Jupiter for a few days - so those two are easy to find

And following that the Moon will pass Antares which is a red star in the middle of the constellation Scorpio - and then Saturn which is the ringed planet and the furthest away of the planets we can see with the naked eye

Also - early in the evening - the the South West of Jupiter you can see Sirius or the Wolf-Star that follows the constellation Orion which is harder to see at this time of year - you may know The Saucepan or know the three bright stars in Orion's Belt

In the morning you can easily see Venus - the planet that is sometimes in the east and sometimes in the west - called the Morning Star or The Evening Star as it moves around the sun - it appears in our morning or evening sky - it's the brighest planet and sometimes it is visible after sunrise or before sunset and it very easy to see - actually - very hard to miss if it's there

Mercury is the smallest planet of the visible 5 and is closest to the sun and the hardest to find - and it's rising before sunrise and I have not seen it lately but I know it's there. You might be lucky to find it - but when then moon is in the last quarter it will be much easier to find

I am up for questions but need to take a break from the computer for a while - but unless I decide to go out - I will be back if anyone has any questions

I get very maternal about a thread when I open it - so I will be looking for this one

Dec

And if I can get suitable pics I will post them to show what I mean - I love all of this

264 replies

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In response to: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

OwlunarSenior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 1:30 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Hi @Shaz51

I don't know how long the supermoon will last - I can look it up later

It is brilliant - wow - is it ever - this morning I went out to see the planets and stars again and the moon is waning but still brilliant -

We have been having wonderful clear skies in Melboure lately

Dec

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

SylvesterSenior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 2:29 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Hi guys

How is your afternoon going?

Sylvester

SANE Moderation

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Shaz51Senior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 2:32 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

hello @Sylvester, @Owlunar

how is your weather ?? very hot up here but sunny at the moment

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

SylvesterSenior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 2:34 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Beautiful thanks for asking, very quiet on the forum today? Everyone is out enjoying the sunshine maybe,

Have a great afternoos

Sylvester

SANE Moderator

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

OwlunarSenior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 4:00 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Hi @Sylvester

The weather in Melbourne is wonderful - maybe it is in other places - makes for a better and easier time for a lot of people I hope

My right leg gave me trouble for months and now I am sleeping properly I am waking up earlier and feeling better and working in my little courtyard which has gone rampant after all the rain we had in Victoria

I hope things are good for people for days go come

Dec

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

OwlunarSenior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 4:02 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Beautiful weather in Melbourne @Shaz51 - really out of the box

Dec

In response to: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

outlanderSenior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 5:03 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

looks like an amazing view @Owlunar i really hope you go and visit there on your travels!

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

OwlunarSenior Contributor04 Feb 2018, 10:04 pm AEDT

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Hi again @outlander

My relatives live just across the harbour from my hotel - I think I can probably get a ferry across rather than going all the way around and across the bridge

But I do love bridges - truly - it's one of my interests

And I checked the internet this afternoon - I can get a tour up Mount Wellington - I have been to Hobart several times already - I forget how often I have been to Tasmania - several times - I have driven all over the place there too - I really miss driving

So I have plenty to do - and Hobart is a really pretty city - a lot of it is very old and built by convicts

I went down to Port Arthur once - it gave me a serious dose of the creeps - I don't think I am inclined to go down there again - but the harbour - I enjoyed doing this in Sydney - I am looking forward to cruising again in Hobart

Dec

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

OwlunarSenior Contributor26 May 2018, 2:46 am AEST

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Hi @outlander@Shaz51@utopia@Zoe7

It's a while since I posted anything here and now it's the middle of the night and why am I not in bed?

Because it's cold but a really clear and beautiful sky tonight and lately we have had a lot of cloud which diminishes the joy of watching the planets somewhat

But right now - the moon was overhead near Jupiter with Antares (a star) Mars and Saturn following in alignment across the sky - this pattern has changed little since the summer when I was writing a lot but the exciting thing the last couple of nights is that Venus was easy to find - I have a lot of buildings and trees blocking my view to the west and last night was the first time for a long time since I saw it - such a brilliant sight too

I actually hope everyone is having a peaceful night - I wish everyone the best

Dec

In response to: Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

Zoe7Senior Contributor26 May 2018, 10:01 am AEST

Re: Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

@Owlunar I need to put a telescope on my Christmas list in the hope Santa will bring one for me We have sucha clear sky down here when there is no cloud cover but I would love to be able to see the stars and planets even closer.

I enjoy your descriptions of how they are aligned - thanks Dec

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