Posted 9 February 2014 This post is biased towards events that can be seen with the unaided eye or via the Internet. It also can only cover predictable events. Random events such as asteroid impacts won’t be listed. Where events are time specific, I have listed the events in AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) and AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time).
Planets: Jupiter will continue to be prominent in the early evening sky. Look above the Northern horizon at the end of evening twilight. Venus will be the brightest ‘star’ in the morning twilight sky. To locate Venus, look low above the Eastern horizon. Saturn and Mars are also located in the morning sky – high above the Northern horizon.
All week: The International Space Station is visible in the morning sky this week for Canberra, Australia. Information on passes for Canberra (with links to finder charts) can be found here. Go here for satellite viewing information / predictions for all Australian locations.
Tuesday 11 February 2014: Gibbous Moon located above Jupiter. Early evening sky.
Wednesday 12 February 2014: Excellent pass by International Space Station over Canberra Wednesday morning 5:27 am – 5:34 am AEDT. Link to finder chart.
Wednesday 12 February 2014: 13th anniversary of the first soft landing of a spacecraft on an asteroid (the landing of NASA’s Near Asteroid Rendezvous robotic spacecraft on the asteroid Eros (occured in 2001)). The NEAR spacecraft wasn’t designed to land on the asteroid but the mission controllers decided to attempt the landing just before the spacecraft totally depleted its fuel supply. The low gravity of the potato shaped Eros meant that the spacecraft survived its landing.
Wednesday 12 February 2014: Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede appears from behind Jupiter at 10:35 pm AEST / 11:35 pm AEDT. Telescope required.
Wednesday 12 February 2014: Great Red Spot transits Jupiter at 11 pm AEST / 12 pm (Midnight) AEDT. Telescope required.
Friday 14 February 2014: Excellent pass by International Space Station over Canberra Friday morning 5:26 am – 5:33 am AEDT. Link to finder chart.
Saturday 15 February 2014: Venus reaches its greatest brightness at magnitude -4.9 in the morning sky. See if you notice if it is bright enough to cast a shadow.
Saturday 15 February 2014: 9:53 am AEST / 10:53 am AEDT Full Moon
Sunday 16 February 2014: 6 am AEST / 7 am AEDT Mercury at inferior conjunction
