Tag Archives: Venus

In the Sky This Week – December 11, 2018

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This entry is part 73 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

Mercury joins Venus and Spica in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; the Moon will appear near Mars on Dec. 14th. See if you can spot all these objects in the south-southwestern sky at dusk on Dec. 11th. Observing Target: Fomalhaut The star Fomalhaut (see above image) is one of the brightest stars in the sky; it is a main sequence class A star approximately 25 light-years from the Sun. In a small telescope, it looks pretty much like any another bright star – but this star has a story! A ring of dust was discovered around this star, being shepherded by a large exoplanet with a 2000-year orbit! This exoplanet has be directly imaged using the Hubble Space Telescope. This humorous video about exoplanet Fomalhaut B was released before Halloween 2012: The Moon The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening. The Moon will be … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 4, 2018

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This entry is part 72 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

A very thin waning crescent Moon joins the weeks-long conjunction of Venus and Spica in the southeastern predawn sky on Dec. 4th. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; Mars is slowly fading in brightness as the Earth pulls away from it in its orbit (see solar system image below). The very thin waxing crescent Moon will appear near Saturn in the southwestern sky at dusk on Dec. 8th. The constellation Orion is high in the southeastern sky at midnight. Observing Target: M33 – The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 (or NGC 598) is a spiral galaxy located approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Andromeda Galaxy and our Milky Way. M33 is one of the most distant objects that can be viewed with the naked eye. NGC 604 is a large star-birth region within The Triangulum Galaxy. NGC 604 is similar to the Orion Nebula in our Milky Way galaxy, but nearly 100 times larger! More … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 27, 2018

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This entry is part 71 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus and Spica continue their predawn conjunction in the southeastern sky. Mars is high in southern sky after sunset all week. The International Space Station will pass very near Saturn low in the southwestern sky at 5:42 PM ET on Nov. 27th. To be honest, when I saw this in Stellarium I thought something was a bit weird – I knew there wasn’t going to be a bright star near Saturn … then I clicked on it to find it was the ISS. This ISS flyover will only be visible in southeastern Michigan (sorry). To check of you can see the ISS this week, go to heavens-above.com – you can get charts like this: The nearly third-quarter Moon will appear very near the star Regulus in the southeastern predawn sky on Nov. 29th. The Moon The Moon is a waning gibbous, rising after sunset, high in the sky after midnight, and visible to the southwest after sunrise. On Nov. 30th the Moon will be at third-quarter, rising … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 20, 2018

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This entry is part 70 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus and Spica continue their weeks-long conjunction in the eastern predawn sky. Orion and Canus Major are in the southwestern predawn sky all week. A few months ago, I remember writing about Orion just becoming visible in the eastern predawn sky; watching constellations creep across the southern sky over the course of a season is pretty interesting. I’m certainly learning a lot about the sky from writing these posts… Saturn becomes the “evening star” in the southwestern sky at dusk; if you’re lucky, and have a clear horizon, you might catch a glimpse of Mercury very low in the sky around 5:30 PM ET on Nov. 20th. Mars and Neptune will be high in southern sky after sunset all week. Here’s a close-up of where Neptune is near the red giant star Lambda Aquarii (λ-Aqr , 73 Aqr): Uranus is above the Moon! Yea, I said it! Actually, when generating images for this post, this image made me laugh pretty hard… Uranus … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 13, 2018

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This entry is part 69 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

There will be twin “morning stars” in the eastern predawn sky for the next several days; Venus will appear very near the star Spica for the next week. A waxing crescent Moon joins Saturn in the southwestern sky on Nov. 13th. In the south, Mars joins that same waxing crescent Moon on Nov. 13th. The Moon appears very close to Mars high in the southern sky on Nov. 15th after sunset. Apparently this is the week for conjunctions… Observing Target: NGC 7000 – The North America Nebula The North America Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus; the shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America. The nebula covers an area more than four times the size of the Moon, but has low surface brightness, and cannot typically be seen with the unaided eye. Comets Comet Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto (C/2018 V1) was discovered last week by three amateur astronomers! This week, look for the comet near the … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 6, 2018

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This entry is part 68 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus makes a return as the “morning star;” before sunrise on Nov. 6th, Venus is joined by the star Spica, and an extremely thin waning crescent Moon. Over the week, Venus will creep slowly higher and closer to Spica; the two will appear very close to each other on the morning of Nov. 12th. A waxing crescent Moon will appear in the southwestern sky by Saturn after sunset on Nov. 10th. Mars, high in the southern sky after sunset, continues to be an excellent observing target this week. Observing Target: Conjunction of the Moon and Saturn The Moon will appear very near the planet Saturn after sunset on Nov. 11th. Comets Comet 46P/Wirtanen continues to offer a great target for astrophotographers: You can find Comet 46P/Wirtanen in the southern sky after midnight this week. Northern Taurids Meteor Shower Peak night: Nov 10-11, 2018. Active from Oct. 19 – Dec.10. Radiant: 03:52 +22.7° – ZHR: 5 – Velocity: 18 miles/sec (medium – 30km/sec) – Parent Object: 2P/Encke Interactive graphic showing the … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 23, 2018

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This entry is part 66 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

The constellations Leo and Ursa Major appear in the east-northeastern sky before sunrise; the bright star Regulus is hard to miss in the eastern sky. The constellations Orion and Taurus are high in the southwestern predawn sky. Mars and Saturn are great observing targets this week; sadly, Saturn is getting lower in the southwestern sky each evening. The full and waning gibbous Moon will be visible nearly all night long this week – rising later in the east with each evening. Jupiter and Mercury appear low in the southwestern sky at dusk – Mercury may be quite the challenge to see. Observing Target: Conjunction of the Moon and Aldebaran There will be an early morning conjunction of the Moon and the star Aldebaran on Oct. 27th. Comets Appearing wider than the planet Jupiter, comet 46P/Wirtanen continues to make the news: You can find Comet 46P/Wirtanen low in the southern sky after midnight this week – the Moon may wash it … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 2, 2018

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This entry is part 63 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

The Moon joins the constellations Gemini and Orion high south in the predawn sky. Mars and Saturn continue to be excellent observing targets in the southern sky after sunset. You might be able to catch a glimpse of Venus this week if you have a clear southwestern horizon; Venus is VERY low in the sky at sunset. Observing Target: M45 – The Pleiades The Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters) is an open star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus. The cluster contains several hot, B-type stars, and is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. The Pleiades easily visible to the naked eye – binoculars work great for viewing the Pleiades; if you want to use a telescope, you’ll need to use a longer focal-length (lower magnification) eyepiece. Time-exposures of the Pleiades reveal a blue nebulosity surrounding the stars; once thought to be left over from the formation of the cluster, it is now thought to be … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – September 18, 2018

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This entry is part 61 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

Canis Major, with the bright star Sirius, is now fully above the horizon in the southeastern predawn sky. The Moon joins Mars and Saturn in the southwestern sky after dusk for several days this week. Venus is very low on the Southwestern sky, and is only visible for about 1/2 hour at dusk before being obscured by trees or buildings on the horizon. Jupiter sets shortly before 10:00 PM The Moon The Moon is a waxing gibbous just after first quarter; visible in the southern sky after dusk, the Moon is an excellent observing target for the next several days. The Moon will be full on September 24th. Observing Target: The Lunar Terminator The lunar terminator – NOT a rampaging cyborg from a dystopian future… but rather the division between the illuminated and dark hemispheres of the Moon. Observing the terminator on the Moon around the time of first or third quarters can be fascinating! Over the course of several hours, you can … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – September 11, 2018

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This entry is part 60 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

Orion is high in the southeastern predawn sky as fall stars rise earlier each morning. The Moon joins Venus and Jupiter in the southwestern sky after dusk for several days early this week. The Moon will join Mars and Saturn in the Southern sky after dusk, appearing very near Saturn on September 17th. The Moon The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible in the southwestern sky after dusk. The Moon will be at first-quarter on September 17th, and should be a good observing target all week. Observing Target: The Zodiacal Light Zodiacal light (also called the “false dawn” when seen before sunrise) is a faint, diffuse, and roughly triangular white glow that is visible in the night sky and appears to extend from the Sun’s direction and along the zodiac, straddling the ecliptic. Sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust causes this phenomenon. Zodiacal light is best seen during twilight after sunset in spring and before sunrise in autumn, when the zodiac is … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – September 5, 2018

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This entry is part 59 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

A beautiful thin waning crescent Moon was high in the southeastern sky as I saw my wife off to her second day of school this morning. The Moon will be lower and thinner at 6:00 AM for the next couple days. After dusk, the splash of planets across the southeastern sky continues to be free from the glare of the Moon this week; Jupiter will only be visible for a couple weeks before disappearing behind the Sun. Venus is very low above the southwestern horizon, and Jupiter appears higher and a bit towards the south at dusk. The Moon The Moon is a waning crescent, visible in the eastern sky before dawn. The Moon will be new on September 9th. Next week the Moon will reappear in the southwestern sky as a waxing crescent at dusk. Observing Target: M92 – The Other Cluster in Hercules “Messier 92 is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Hercules. It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1777, … Continue reading →

NASA Space Place: A Trip Through the Milky Way

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A Trip Through the Milky Way By Jane Houston Jones and Jessica Stoller-Conrad Feeling like you missed out on planning a last vacation of summer? Don’t worry—you can still take a late summertime road trip along the Milky Way! The waning days of summer are upon us, and that means the Sun is setting earlier now. These earlier sunsets reveal a starry sky bisected by the Milky Way. Want to see this view of our home galaxy? Head out to your favorite dark sky getaway or to the darkest city park or urban open space you can find. While you’re out there waiting for a peek at the Milky Way, you’ll also have a great view of the planets in our solar system. Keep an eye out right after sunset and you can catch a look at Venus. If you have binoculars or a telescope, you’ll see Venus’s phase change dramatically during September—from nearly half phase to a larger, thinner … Continue reading →