Here are the main events for 2015 visible from Brisbane, Australia. There will always be a few extra things that pop up, so keep an eye on the news. Times are local (UTC+10) and bearings are relative to Brisbane. Here's the link to use the Google calendar (copy the link and add it to your calendars).
Celestial Groupings
The planets ("wandering stars") and Moon often come together in groups as they cross paths in the sky, which can make for beautiful views and photos at sunrise or sunset. The groupings last some days, but I've listed peak times for the events below (weather permitting!).
Comets
The sky is peppered with comets throughout the year, the majority of which never brighten enough to be visible to the eye or even binoculars. Peak brightness is notoriously hard to predict too - everyone's heard the story about "the great comet that everyone will be able to see this year"! That said - one or two comets might brighten nicely for 2015.
C/2014 Q1 Panstarrs - may be briefly visible to us in mid July, some days after the July 5 Perihelion. We need to wait for Panstarrs to rise out of the sunset glow, however it will have faded from sight by the end of July.
C/2013 US10 Catalina - could be visible from Aug/Sep, reaching Perihelion on November 15 and may brighten to 1st magnitude. Best prospects for visibility will probably be in October and early November when the comet is at closest approach to the Sun before being lost in the sunset glare.
- Feb 22 - Venus, Mars and crescent Moon in the west, after sunset.
- Mar 22 - Venus, Mars and crescent Moon in the west, after sunset.
- Jun 20 - Venus, Jupiter and crescent Moon in the west, after sunset.
- Jul 1 - Venus and Jupiter (0.3 degrees apart) in the west, after sunset.
- Jul 17-18 - Conjunction of Comet Pannstarrs, Jupiter, Venus and a crescent Moon in the west after sunset.
- Oct 10 - Venus, Mars, Jupiter and a crescent Moon in the east, followed by Mercury just before dawn.
- Oct 26 - Venus, Mars and Jupiter (3.6 degrees apart) in the east, before dawn.
- Nov 7 - Venus, Mars, Jupiter and a crescent Moon in the east, followed by Mercury just before dawn.
- Dec 8 - Conjunction of Comet Catalina, Venus and a crescent Moon in the east before dawn. Comet Catalina rises at 2:45am and will be lost in the sunrise by about 4am.
Comets
The sky is peppered with comets throughout the year, the majority of which never brighten enough to be visible to the eye or even binoculars. Peak brightness is notoriously hard to predict too - everyone's heard the story about "the great comet that everyone will be able to see this year"! That said - one or two comets might brighten nicely for 2015.
C/2014 Q1 Panstarrs - may be briefly visible to us in mid July, some days after the July 5 Perihelion. We need to wait for Panstarrs to rise out of the sunset glow, however it will have faded from sight by the end of July.
C/2013 US10 Catalina - could be visible from Aug/Sep, reaching Perihelion on November 15 and may brighten to 1st magnitude. Best prospects for visibility will probably be in October and early November when the comet is at closest approach to the Sun before being lost in the sunset glare.
Occultation of Venus - October 9
Look to the East on the early morning of October 9th and you will see a beautiful grouping of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury with a 26 day old crescent Moon.
Venus will disappear behind the bright crescent of the Moon at 04:21, re-emerging from the dark limb at 05:47.
Venus will be quite a bright crescent, shining at magnitude -4.48, with 40% of the disk illuminated. The event is visible at an azimuth of 69 degrees North, and altitude of 16 degrees.
Sunrise is at 05:19, so the event commences in darkness, with twilight developing while Venus is obscured.
You can view this event without any specialised equipment: just rug up and watch Venus as it glides into the Moon and winks out. You can easily photograph the grouping of planets and Moon with low light settings at a focal length of 30-40mm.
If you plan to photograph the occultation, ideally you'll want to use a telescope. The objects will be will framed using a digital SLR with an effective focal length of 4,000mm (eg 8" SCT with a 2x teleconverter).
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