ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS OF INTEREST 2009 -2010

 

As featured in the Astronomy Calendar.

August 2009 – Mercury close to Saturn post-sunset

Good chance to see Mercury, reasonably high in the western post-sunset sky – next to Saturn mid month.

Diagram shows their positions by the crescent moon on the 22nd of August.

Mercury is closest to Saturn (3º away) on August 17th.

August – September 2009 – Saturn’s rings edge on.

For the first time in nearly 15 years, Saturn’s rings will be edge-on to the Earth and hence invisible when viewed with a telescope during these months. The rings are edge-on to the Sun on August the 10th and edge-on to the Earth on September 4th. Saturn is low in the western evening sky on these days.

October 2009 – Triple conjunction

The end of October of March sees a dance of the planets Mercury, Venus and Saturn in the eastern pre-dawn sky, however the planets will be very low in the sky and difficult to view.  The diagram at left shows them on the 8th of October. Other dates of interest are:

8 October: Mercury nearest to Saturn (0.3º away)

13 October: Venus nearest to Saturn (0.5º away)

June 26th 2010 – Partial Lunar eclipse

Visible from all of Australia and NZ. The Moon will pass through the southern part of the Earth’s shadow; at maximum eclipse (9.39pm AEST) over half the Moon’s diameter will be covered.

July 2010 – Four planets after sunset

July sees a dance of the planets Mars, Venus and Saturn in the western sky. By the end of the month, they are joined by Mercury. The diagram at left shows them together on the 31st, when Mars is closest to Saturn.

Mercury passes Regulus on the 28th.

August 2010 – Triple conjunction with moon

The four planets are still visible mid August, and are joined by the Moon on the 13th. Planetary conjunctions:

8 August: Venus closest to Saturn

8 August: Venus closest to Mars.

September 2010 – Venus, Mars and Spica

Saturn and Mercury have slipped away, but Venus and Mars can still be seen, with Moon and Spica joining in on the 11th.

Planetary conjunctions:

1 September: Venus closest to Spica

5 September: Mars closest to Spica

29 September: Venus closest to Mars (but 6º south)

December 21st  – Total Lunar Eclipse – much of New Zealand and the Queensland coast will see the Moon rise totally eclipsed. Much of the rest of central and SE Australia will see the Moon rise partially eclipsed. Times of events:

Phase

AEST

AEDST

NZDST

Starts

16:32

5.32pm

7.32pm

Totality starts

17:40

6.40pm

8.40pm

Maximum

18:18

7.18pm

9.18pm

Totality ends

18:53

7.53pm

9.53pm

Ends

20:01

9.01pm

11.01pm

 

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