Catch Moon, Venus, Jupiter--great show up there

nolatom · #1 03-23-2012

Sunday and Monday evenings (25, 26, and maybe 27 March) in the west, they're all close together:

Last dance for Venus, Jupiter and the moon - Technology & science - Space - Space.com - msnbc.com

Hope you get out, and get clear sky. Way better than TV...

even "Mad Men"..

windward54 · #2 03-23-2012

And Mars has been visible as well, about 90 degrees behind Venus and Jupiter. Just look for the reddish looking star. We’ve had a wonderful view of all out here on the West Coast.

travlineasy · #3 03-23-2012

The evening sky has been unusually clear here in Maryland for the past few weeks, my wife and have been able to clearly see Jupiter and Venus nearly every night, and we also saw the comet for at least three nights, which was an incredible sight. The comet appeared to have a series of oscillating red and blue lights, which was enhanced when viewed through 12-power binoculars. I've never seen that before and I assume it was just changes in the light spectrum through the atmosphere.

Gary

CruiseICW · #4 03-24-2012

It is a treat up in the sky right now. I've been waiting anxiously for "launch madness"; 5 rocket launches in 5 minutes from NASA's Wallops Island facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

jrd22 · #5 03-24-2012

The stars and planets have been fantastic lately, we've even had clear weather for viewing here in the PNW (at times).

skygazer · #6 03-24-2012

Don't forget Saturn, it's rising in the SE when Mars is high. By 2 AM Saturn is in the South, but lower than Mars was. If you follow the curve of the Big Dipper's handle, a bit more than the length of the entire dipper away will be a very bright star, Arcturus. Keep going the same distance again and you will see two bright stars, one twinkles a lot, the other is Saturn.

Saturn has been disappointing the last two years with it's rings edgewise, but they have opened up and are very visible. A couple nights ago it was clear here in Maine, and with my (20 inch diameter) telescope I could see the shadow of the planet "ball" cast onto the rings where they went behind the planet. Very 3-D looking and a wonderful sight with a telescope. A much smaller scope would also see the rings nicely.

It's fairly rare to have all the brightest planets visible in the same night. Unfortunately, it is supposed to rain tomorrow, so I think I will have to dismantle my telescope, which barely allows it to fit (in pieces) through my doors.

Last night I saw the moon through a small opening in the clouds, it was the thinnest sliver of crescent imaginable, close to the sun. Tonight it will be much fatter, but still thin. Tomorrow it should be by Jupiter, which has been rapidly sinking into the west as Venus even more rapidly climbed by it - and is now well above it.

CruiseICW · #7 03-24-2012

Hey y'all,
I should also mention that I found a spectacular free planetarium program called Stellarium The cool thing about this site is that once you download it you don't need an internet connection to use it. You just put in your lat/lon, and voila!, they are the stars from your location.
It is not like the programs on some phones where you point at the sky and it moves, you move the screen with your mouse. It really is cool, and as I said, it's free.

skygazer · #8 03-24-2012

Also, you can install Stellarium into a USB drive and put it in your pocket, then use it on any computer.

windward54 · #9 03-24-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by CruiseICW

Hey y'all,
I should also mention that I found a spectacular free planetarium program called Stellarium The cool thing about this site is that once you download it you don't need an internet connection to use it. You just put in your lat/lon, and voila!, they are the stars from your location.
It is not like the programs on some phones where you point at the sky and it moves, you move the screen with your mouse. It really is cool, and as I said, it's free.

Great program. I do like my Star Walk on my iPhone, but this is a really nice program. and the price is right!

Rockter · #10 03-24-2012

In high summer, Uranus is also a good target.
Neptune is a real challenge, even through my best scopes.
I have never seen Neptune for sure.
This far north (57 deg), Neptune is very low in the sky.
.