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

Thank you @Owlunar

Thank you @Owlunar. I wasn't sure if it was Mars or Mercury now.

And a great image of the stars @Shaz51

I don't know @Shaz51

I screwed up my eyes and leaned way back from the screen and the picture looked different but I couldn't see what else was there

Is it one of those photos that can be many things?

Dec

Hi @utopia

Mercury can be very hard to find - it's easier to find when it is near a brighter object - say Venus or Jupiter - but it's very small and rises and sets quickly in the evening sky and then the morning sky

Atm it's visible in the morning sky but near the horizon - I haven't even been looking much because of the vile weather - strange things about those clouds - they do make planet spotting difficult at times

I see that you are going home today - I wish you the best - I think your trip into hospital was rough this time - or part of it was - like they were making it hard for you to get anything out of the programme - a lot of non-smokers being super-sticky-minded about quitting -

Enough about that though - you can smoke whenever you want to at home and this is a good thing

I hope things went well with your mother seeing your therapist - I guess she does get frustrated when things seem to be okay then you slip back - it begs the question - should we be honest all the time about what we have going on or keep some of it - or how much - to ourselves.

I had this problem with my mother back in the day - she would tell me to keep things to myself and then be really cranky - your Mum seems to be pretty helpful though

I hope it all goes well

Dec

no @Owlunar, I can only see stars xx

Oi! @Shaz51

You got me - how far I leaned back and how I squinted - I even took my glasses off to see something else that was not there

Okay - it was the Milky Way

Dec

ha ha @Owlunar

I am going to go find my photo of a cloud i took for you xx

7.10pm in country Victoria. The moon is up in the East North East. There is a very bright star above the moon.

Which planet is this? @Owlunar

Hi @utopia

Last night the nearly full moon and Mars were very close together - I saw the moon rising before sunset but alas - I fell asleep as I so often do when I am taking my BP Medication - I am pretty sure I saw that later though and Mars was near the moon around midnight and it was more in the western sky but very high

I love it when I am asked these questions - every year my daughter gives me a book - a guide to the southern sky - I use it a lot

We have been having some clear nights and mornings lately which makes it more rewarding to have planet watching as a hobby

And we are having a glorious day today - really mild - I have been outside in my back garden a bit - it's actually a bit of a sun-trap there - a small area surrounded by buildings and I have quite a few vines and this is a great day to enjoy it

I hope things are settling for you now you are at home Utopia

Dec