Tag Archives: Planets

Astronomy News

AN ALIGNMENT OF PLANETS

Space Weather News for Dec. 6, 2021
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AN ALIGNMENT OF PLANETS: Check out the sunset sky this week. Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are getting together with the Moon for a beautiful series of conjunctions. The 5-day show begins tonight, Dec. 6th, when the crescent Moon passes by Venus, and continues through Friday, Dec. 10th, when the celestial bodies stretch themselves into a dramatic straight line across the southwestern sky. Sky maps and observing tips @ Spaceweather.com.

 
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Above: Sunset planets photographed Dec. 3rd by Marek Nikodem in Szubin, Poland. The Moon is about to join them for a series of conjunctions.

Astronomy News

Spot every planet and take part in International Observe the Moon Night

Spot every planet and take part in International Observe the Moon Night this week from September 25 to October 2.

It’s supposed to be clear tonight, so do get out there under the sky and look at the moon and planets. A pair of binoculars will easily show you the planets, and if you can put them on a tripod, or steady them on a railing, you can see the moons of Jupiter.

Lunar observing, look for Clavius in the south. There is a beautiful arc of little craters within with larger one that looks like a necklace.

The Sky This Week: Solar system bonanza

Spot every planet and take part in International Observe the Moon Night this week from September 25 to October 2.
By Alison Klesman  |  Published: Friday, September 25, 2020
The Moon on September 26, 2020
Observe the Moon September 26 is International Observe the Moon Night. Our satellite will have plenty on display, from dark seas to bright craters and rugged mountains. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
Friday, September 25
The Moon passes 1.6° south of Jupiter at 3 A.M. EDT this morning; our satellite then passes 2° south of Saturn at 5 P.M. EDT. You can still see the Moon near the two giant planets after dark this evening. Look south to find the Moon, now 10° southeast of Jupiter and nearly 4° southeast of Saturn. All three are readily visible to the naked eye, but binoculars or a telescope will reveal more detail on the planets, including Saturn’s rings and the alternating colored cloud bands of Jupiter.

Jupiter’s intriguingly icy moon, Europa, begins to transit the planet’s disk from the east starting at 10:07 P.M. EDT. Its shadow slips onto the disk 2.5 hours later, just 14 minutes before the moon passes off the planet’s western limb. Europa’s shadow slowly crosses Jupiter over the next 2.5 hours, disappearing by 3:30 A.M. the morning of the 26th.

Sunrise*: 6:51 A.M.
Sunset: 6:51 P.M.
Moonrise: 3:57 P.M.
Moonset: 12:25 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (67%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.

Saturday, September 26
Tonight is International Observe the Moon Night. Click over to NASA’s official page at http://moon.nasa.gov/observe for more information about the event and how you can participate simply by stepping outside and looking up.

With our satellite a well-lit waxing gibbous today, much of its terrain will be on display, as well as many of the Apollo landing sites. Several maria, or seas, appear as dark splotches against the brighter surrounding terrain. These darker areas never held water but are instead ancient lava flows, left over from when our Moon was much younger. Their relatively smooth floors made them ideal targets for manned landings. Easily visible tonight are Mare Serenitas, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Crisium, Mare Fecunditatis, and Mare Nectaris. Just peeking out from the terminator is Mare Imbrium, bordered by the rugged Apennine mountains, named after the mountain range in Italy.

Astronomy News

Long Range Sensors Detect…

  • Mars Lost Atmosphere to Space
  • Rosetta Sees Changing Face of Comet
  • Observing the planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn this week

NASA’s MAVEN mission has confirmed that the solar wind stripped the Red Planet of its atmosphere.  http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/mars-lost-atmosphere-to-space-3003201723/Based on the ratio of various elements’ isotopes planetary scientists suspect that the Red Planet has lost anywhere from 25% to 90% of its atmosphere over the last 4-ish billion years, with the estimates favoring at least 50%. READ THE ARTICLE

Researchers have used data from the Rosetta mission to link outbursts on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with dramatic surface changes.  Changes seen on the comet’s surface provide researchers with the before and after “smoking gun” of seeing the possible triggering mechanism for a cometary outburst in action. READ THE ARTICLE

 

Jupiter (magnitude –2.5, in Virgo) comes to opposition on April 7th. It rises around sunset, shines low in the east-southeast after nightfall, high in the southeast by 11 p.m., and highest due south around 1 a.m. daylight saving time. Spica hangs 7° below it. In a telescope Jupiter is 44 arcseconds across its equator.

Mars and Mercury in the twilight.


Saturn over Sagittarius at dawn, early April 2017

Saturn (magnitude +0.4, in Sagittarius upper right of the Teapot) rises in the early morning hours and glows in the south by early dawn. Redder Antares (magnitude +1.0) twinkles 19° to Saturn’s right. Saturn doesn’t reach opposition until June 14th.

The blue 10° scale is about the width of your fist at arm’s length.