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

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

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

Thanks @Jo-anneJoy

There are more similiar photos of those planets on this thread - and it's time I posted another -

March was a great month for watching those three plants - the night skies were clear for excellent photos

This one was taken in March - 2020 - it's Mercury rising - it's usually hard to even find this littel planet and really lucky to catch it in a photo and when the picture is expanded it shows it in a crescent - the actual phase it was in at that time.

The solar system is endlessly interesting to me and I just finished a huge jigsaw of the solar system - it took 9 days and really kept me busy

Dec

@Shaz51 @Gazza75 @Ali11 @utopia @outlander

Mercury rising

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

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

I do family history research and one of my ancestors in the 17th century,

was a Quaker and amateur astronomer. His built his son an observatory -

so jealous - I only got a cubby house.

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

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

Hi @Jo-anneJoy

My father built us a play house out of packing crates - I would have loved an observatory too - how great that would have been.

And an ancestor who was a Quaker and an amateur astronomer - that's a gret historical family fact

And cubby house v observatory - no argument - observatory every time - yes please

My Dad was interested in astronomy and taught me a lot - I guess my hobby was fired early in life -

Dec

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

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

Hi @Jo-anneJoy @Shaz51 @Gazza75 @Ali11 @utopia

I went outside on Saturday morning I think - and it was fairly bright but just before sunrise and I saw Jupiter, Saturn and Mars overhead and very clear in a perfect sky - and it was a lucky moment because right then a satellite passed over and moved quickly - and I was grateful for that moment and hopeful too that it is a good sign

Jupiter and Saturn are moving across the sky together - Mars is tagging behind - on a clear evening it's easy to see Jupiter and Saturn rising - Mars rises later - but this happens earlier every evening and then they are visible every clear evening

This little cluster of planets is a unusual and won't happen again in my lifetime - though Jupiter and Saturn will get closer together during the next few months

Dec

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

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

soo interesting @Owlunar

Hello @Jo-anneJoy , @Ali11 , @utopia

the moon was very bright the other night shinning through the window lightening up the whole room

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

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

Indeed it was @Shaz51 and as an astrologer, I can tell you it was a Full Moon in Scorpio.

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

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

Hi to all my astronomy peeps

This is a rare photo - a moonbow - which does sometimes signify rain to come but tonight I think it's probably clear because of the frost in the astmosphere

The halo around the moon was complete but didn't come out as well in the photo and no - I am not going outside in my jimjams again -

I don't know how the pic with come out in the post but the filters I added actually faintly showed the colours of a rainbow

Dec

moonbow

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

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

Hi @Owlunar

Can you tell me what planet I'm seeing in the night sky?

North East. Around 6.30 7 00 am. Very bright. No other stars near it.

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

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

Hi @utopia

It's great to see you

That planet you can see early in the mornings is Venus - it's rising at 4.45am atm and earler each day

It's really brilliant right now and great to see

Dec

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

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

@Owlunar

Thanks so much for your knowledge.

I also saw Jupiter last night, below the full moon. But nothing is as bright as Venus in the morning.

Thanks again.

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