Skywatchers' Journal (Southern Hemisphere)

[Michaelangelica]

Now we can make all them damn 'northenors' jealous.

We can see the Southern Cross right guys!

there is a least one S. African here I know so let's the two of us get together and bogie!

 

And for those of us on the other half of the planet:

 

==== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ===

Comet 73P is now visible to the unaided eye under dark skies. The comet is at its brightest by the end of this week, but bright moonlight will make it difficult to see without binoculars. The best time to see 73P is around 3-4am this week. The Full Moon is Saturday May 13. In the early evening, ruddy Mars is in Gemini, not far from Saturn, which is easily spotted in the northeastern sky as a pale gold object, within binocular range of the Beehive cluster. Jupiter rises in the late evening and is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Now is a good time to beg or borrow a small telescope to watch it. In the dawn sky bright Venus is readily seen above the eastern horizon. On the late evening/early morning of May 14-15 the bright red star Antares will be covered by the Moon. For comet spotting maps and occultation times see:

http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

[Chacmool]

Now we can make all them damn 'northenors' jealous.

We can see the Southern Cross right guys!

there is a least one S. African here I know so let's the two of us get together and bogie!

Whoohoo! :hihi: Boerseun and I are both from South Africa. The Southern Cross rocks!

[Michaelangelica]

Whoohoo! ;) Boerseun and I are both from South Africa. The Southern Cross rocks!

I ran into two Yank tourists on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

They wanted me to point out the Southern Cross.

Very difficult among all the lights of a big city.

I did my best.

 

In the Outback you can almost see by starlight.

(As I guess you can in 'wild' Africa)

 

Glad you like the idea! Now we are 3 !:)

[Jay-qu]

I with-held my post till I had a look at the sky tonight.. clouds! fun fun.. still no sign of the comet and Im missing Jupiter!

[Michaelangelica]

This does it all really:) :)

 

http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

 

May Skies

Last Modified Fri, 12 May 2006 06:06:10 GMT

updated Comet Schwassmann-Wachman spotters maps updated.

Useful info for visitors from New Zealand, South Africa and South America.

1-4 May; Mars near Epsilon Geminorum. May 2; Mars near Moon. May 4, Moon near Saturn. May 5; opposition of Jupiter. May 6, Moon near Regulus. May 12, Moon near Jupiter. Early morning May 15; Occultation of Antares visible Australia, NZ, Indonesia and Singapore. May 16; Mars near delta Geminorium. May 24; Venus near the Moon. updated May 1 on, Comet Schwassmann-Wachman visible in binoculars, fragment B breaks up; possibly unaided eye by 6th- 13th.

Looking up at the stars is still a rewarding pursuit, despite the increasing light pollution in our major cities. The southern sky is full of interesting objects, many of which go unseen in the northern hemisphere. All you need for a good nights viewing is yourself, a good idea of where south and east are, and your hands. Optional extras are a small pair of binoculars, a torch with red cellophane taped over the business end and a note book. A great many tips for backyard astronomy may be found here, although many of them are more relevant to the northern hemisphere. A general article on amateur astronomy from New Scientist is here (May require subscription otherwise see the TASS site.).

 

This page is designed to give people a simple guide to the naked eye sky. In the descriptions of planet and star positions, distances in the sky are given as "fingers width" and "hand span". This is the width of your hand (with all the fingers together as in making a "stop" sign, not bunched as a fist) or finger when extended a full arms length from you.

[Jay-qu]

Clear skies today :) not a cloud, should be good tonight!

[Michaelangelica]

Big Meteor/or big bit of Space Junk just hit Queensland!

 

Reports are just coming in of sightings of a bright green streak though the sky (About a foot long said one person); at 6.15pm EST Australiaan time

People saw the bright green streak from Brisbane to Bundaberg and further north. One person said he heard an impact boom a few minutes after seeing the light. The light lasted for about 7 seconds.

Some people reported seeing a blue light, one person in a plane said it was bright white. Most said it seemed to break up into 10-15 smaller lights which quickly went out

........................................

 

Apart from that, the last two months there has not been a cloud in the sky. The last three days (since I started this thread) it has been cloudy.

the garden needs it

Michael

[Jay-qu]

somewhat dissapointing sky tonight.. there was a high fog that blurred everything and because of the near full moon it was illuminated making only the brightest stars visible. I had a look at jupiter any way and I wasnt sure if I was looking at one of its moons or just a visual artifact due to the fog..

[Michaelangelica]

G'Day All

 

According to

<<http://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/live.html>http://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/live.html>

this live radio meteor web page, we are currently undergoing high

radio meteor activity, probably associated with comet 73P. Whether

this translates to high visual meteor activity is another thing. I

can't check the skies, too much cloud. Anyone else out there with

clear skies, look out to your north, use the location map here

http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2006/05/31-may-moonight-mars-and-meteors-from.html

to see if you can see any meteors.

 

Cheers! Ian

 

 

======================================================

Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis and Michael James Musgrave

[email protected] 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

[email protected] 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

[Jay-qu]

my north is very boring at night.. mostly trees :naughty:

 

also tonight is fairly cloudy, but last night was beautiful!

[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 :hyper: 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

<[email protected]> 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/skywatch/ssky.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/skywatch/ssky.htm#Eclipse .

 

Cheers! Ian

 

To unsubscribe from aurora alert, send an email to

[email protected] with "unsubscribe aurora alert" as the subject.

[Jay-qu]

That looks cool :D

 

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 :eek2:

[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'!:cup: