Tag Archives: Venus

In the Sky This Week – December 3, 2019

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This entry is part 125 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

At last night’s meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society, the topic of the Starlink satellite constellation came up during the “In the News” segment, and a groan of dismay could be heard from the entire audience. If you are unfamiliar with Starlink, it is a constellation of potentially tens of thousands of communication satellites created by SpaceX with the goal of providing global high-speed internet – that concept sounds great! Starlink satellites during a meteor shower on Nov. 22. pic.twitter.com/wJVk1qu49E — Patrick Treuthardt, Ph.D. (@PTreuthardt) November 25, 2019 The first time I became aware of Starlink was after the 2nd satellite deployment mission of May of 2019, when 60 satellites were put into a 53° Earth orbit. Almost immediately satellite sightings started pouring in from around the world. Videos show a long trail of lights traversing the sky, virtually painting the orbits of the satellites in your mind’s eye, and literally painting them in the cameras of astronomers and astrophotographers … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 26, 2019

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This entry is part 124 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

Last week I had students in my after-school astronomy and space science club build and fly rockets in Kerbal Space Program. I had them launch and recover a small pre-made rocket, and build-from-scratch a sub-orbital crewed rocket, similar to a Mercury Redstone. The very next day, I gave the “In the News” report at the meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society – I shamelessly pulled material from my previous “In the Sky” post; I included a slide about the Europa Clipper mission, and a couple about mid-ocean rift ecosystems and extremophiles. There will be a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter low on the southwestern horizon all week; Saturn continues to appear high above the southwestern horizon, and makes for an excellent observing target after Jupiter and Venus have set. Kerbal Space Program has been posting bits of astronomy news and space history on their social media feeds lately – I approve! There's a Venus & Jupiter conjunction on Nov 24th. A conjunction … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 12, 2019

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This entry is part 122 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

I hope you had better luck than I did seeing the transit of Mercury… a good portion of North America was shrouded in clouds – I got several inches of snow! Even the website I pointed readers to last week to view the transit online was not broadcasting due to clouds. I ended up watching it on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory’s (SDO) Eclipse website – clouds are never a problem for the SDO. Venus and Jupiter appear very low and Saturn appears  high in the southwestern sky after sunset this week over the week. Jupiter moves slightly towards the horizon, and Venus moves slightly southward toward Jupiter. By the beginning of next week Mercury returns, appearing low and Mars a bit higher above the eastern horizon before sunrise this week. If you are having trouble spotting Mercury, you can use Mars and the star Spica to star-hop in the general direction of Mercury. The Moon appears high in the sky at … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – November 5, 2019

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This entry is part 121 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

Jupiter is low on the horizon, and Saturn is high in the southwestern sky after sunset  this week. Mars appears low in the eastern sky just before sunrise. The Moon appears in the south-southeastern sky after sunset this week – going from first quarter, to a waxing gibbous, to full early next week. The full Moon appears high in the southeastern sky above the constellation Orion at 10:00 PM on Nov. 11th. The Pleiades star cluster (M 45) and the constellation Taurus with the bright red star Aldebaran appear nearly overhead at midnight all week. Venus appears low on the southwestern horizon after sunset   Transit of Mercury Transits occur when a planet or another body moves in between another distant body and an observer; transits of our Sun are rare and fascinating astronomical events, and one is happening on November 11, 2019 from 7:36 AM-1:04 PM EST! You will need a telescope to see Mercury cross the face of … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 29, 2019

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This entry is part 120 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

The Moon appears near both Jupiter and Saturn this week in the southwestern sky at dusk. Saturn and Jupiter are excellent observing targets; Jupiter is getting lower towards the horizon each evening, and will be lost in the glare of the Sun in early December. Note: This region of the sky will have a conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus in late November – stay tuned! Mars appears low in the eastern sky just before sunrise. The Moon joins Venus and Mercury low on the southwestern sky at dusk on Oct. 29th – Mercury may be challenging to see. See if you can catch a glimpse of earthshine on the Moon for the next couple evenings. The constellation Ursa Major and the very familiar “Big Dipper” asterism appear in the north-northwestern sky a few hours after sunset this week We get a LOT of clouds here in Michigan, and thunderstorms are not unusual; I saw this article on … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 22, 2019

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This entry is part 119 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

Saturn and Jupiter continue to be excellent observing targets in the southern sky after sunset; this last weekend. The Warren Astronomical Society hosted a boatload of girl and boy scouts at their Stargate Observatory this last weekend – I was with the girl scouts before dusk showing them a virtual reality fly-over of Saturn, another member was talking to the girls about meteorites. Mars appears low in the eastern sky just before sunrise. The Moon passes through the constellations Cancer and Leo in the mornings of Oct. 22-24th. A very VERY thin waning crescent Moon appears near to Mars above the eastern horizon before dawn on Oct. 26th. Venus and Mercury appear very close to each other in the southwestern sky at dusk on Oct. 22nd – if you use binoculars, and get Venus in your right field-of-view, Mercury will be in your left. Observing this may be a challenge if you have anything obscuring your view of the horizon. … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – July 9, 2019

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This entry is part 104 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

This is “Conjunction Week” with the Moon appearing near the star Spica, Jupiter and Saturn over the next several days. I thought I’d give the southern hemisphere a bit of love this week, so I included several images of the skies from the Paranal Observatory in Chile – Stellarium made it easy to find them when I was looking for a location. I’m also featuring the the Large Magellanic Cloud as this week’s observing target, and I’m glad I did because I learned a lot about it I was unaware of… so yea!   Saturn and Jupiter remain high in the southern sky all week around midnight, making great observing targets for night owls. Seen from the Paranal Observatory in Chile, Saturn and Jupiter are directly overhead around midnight. Before sunrise at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, the constellations Orion and Taurus appear low in the eastern sky. From the northern hemisphere, Orion rises with the Sun, so it is … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – June 11, 2019

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This entry is part 100 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

A dimming Mars, and a bright Mercury appear low in the west-northwestern sky at dusk. The Moon appears near the star Spica on June 15th and 16th. The Moon appears near Jupiter and the star Antares on June 15th and 16th. Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares appear in the southern sky before dawn. Jupiter, currently at opposition, rises in the southeast with the sunset. Saturn rises in the southeast around 11:20 PM. Venus is very low on the horizon just before sunrise all week. The Summer Triangle The Summer Triangle is an astronomical asterism in the northern celestial hemisphere. The defining vertices of this imaginary triangle are at Altair, Deneb, and Vega, each of which is the brightest star of its constellation (Aquila, Cygnus, and Lyra, respectively). The term was popularized by American author H. A. Rey and British astronomer Patrick Moore in the 1950s. The name can be found in constellation guidebooks as far back as 1913. – Wikipedia There is a very detailed article about the Summer Triangle at Sky and Telescope. The Moon is a waxing gibbous, just past … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – June 4, 2019

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This entry is part 99 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

Mars continues to dim in the west-northwestern sky after sunset, and Mercury appears low near the horizon all week. A thin crescent Moon appears near Mars on June 5th, and moves towards the south each day. The Moon appears by the star Regulus on June 7th and 8th. Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares have been slowly crawling across the southern sky for several weeks; Antares sets a bit earlier each morning. Venus appears very low on the horizon just before sunrise all week. Earthshine Earthshine is visible earthlight reflected from the Moon’s night side. It is also known as the Moon’s ashen glow or as “the new Moon with the old Moon in her arm.” Earthshine is most readily visible from a few nights before until a few nights after a new moon, during the (waxing or waning) crescent phase. – Wikipedia The next few days will be the ideal time to try and catch a glimpse of Earthshine!   The Moon is a … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – May 14, 2019

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This entry is part 96 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

The weekend is over, and I’m still having trouble believing my wife and I were Science Co-Guests of Honor at MARCON 54 – a science fiction convention in Ohio. I told the head of programming that I felt like I’d violated some sort of protocol by not having been a “Fan GoH” first. On Saturday morning, my wife and I, and a couple other convention attendees helped judge participants of the Ohio State Science Fair for awards from the SOLAE Foundation. Some of these middle school and high school students were simply amazing! I was completely stunned at some of the concepts and technologies these students were working with; I seriously felt like a mental midget compared to some of these teens! Br. Guy Skyped-in to MARCON for a discussion Saturday evening; with a frog in his throat from a cold, he related a hilarious story about his travels and a visa SNAFU, and made us all long to witness the majesty … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – April 16, 2019

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This entry is part 92 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

Updating the Near-Earth Object stats for this post, I noticed that the number of known NEO’s has crossed the 20,000 threshold! I need to update this chart every time I talk about asteroids – note the steep angle of the discovery curve, and how the curve keeps growing… precipitously! If you get up at the crack of dawn, and look really low towards the eastern horizon, you may catch a glimpse of Mercury near Venus. Both planets will appear a bit lower in the sky each morning this week. Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares appear in southern predawn sky all week; it’s interesting to note that for the last several weeks these all appeared in the south-southeastern predawn sky. Mars and the constellations Orion and Taurus appear in the western sky after sunset. Mars has dimmed significantly since last year; it and the two constellations appear a bit lower in the western sky each evening. Mars continues a slow crawl away … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – April 2, 2019

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This entry is part 90 of 125 in the series In the Sky This Week

Stellarium version 0.19.0 has been released; I use Stellarium to create images for every one of these posts. When I receive new outreach requests, I frequently use Stellarium to see what the nighttime sky will look like on those future dates. The new version has code optimizations, some user interface improvements, and includes 5 new sky cultures. Stellarium is free, and available for the PC/MAC/Linux. Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares appear in south-southeastern predawn sky this week. Mars continues to appear high in the western sky by the Pleiades all week. A very thin waxing crescent Moon appears low in the western sky after sunset on Apr. 6th. Mercury and Venus appear low in the eastern predawn sky Apr. 8th. The Moon joins Mars and the Pleiades in the western sky after dark on Apr. 8th. Coma Cluster The Coma Cluster (Abell 1656) is a large cluster of galaxies that contains over 1,000 identified galaxies. Along with the Leo Cluster (Abell 1367), it is one of … Continue reading →