Tag Archives: Venus

In the Sky This Week – February 12, 2019

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This entry is part 82 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

My wife likes to alter her science student’s misconceptions about what a “scientist” is, and teaches them that anyone can be a scientist! This is especially true for her female students – many of whom never thought about a career in science. Feb. 11th was International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and it was trending hard on Twitter; it was great to see all the different organizations honoring their female scientists! Saturn and Venus are low, Jupiter and the star Antares are high(ish) in the southeastern predawn sky; Venus continues to move down towards Saturn on the horizon. There’s quite a show high in the south-southwestern sky on Feb. 12th! You may note Mars and Uranus nearly on top of each other in the image below: Mars will be less then a degree from Uranus on Feb. 12th,! I expect to post images about this next week. On the evening of Feb. 13th, the Moon will be about 2 … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 22, 2019

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This entry is part 79 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

Back in Michigan and recovered from my trip to Tucson to help with Vatican Observatory Foundation’s 2019 Faith and Astronomy Workshop (#FAWVOF), only to be thrust into face-biting arctic-like conditions for the total lunar eclipse on Jan. 20th. The shape of the weeks-long conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the star Antares in the southeastern predawn changes drastically this week, as Venus moves away from Jupiter and Antares. Venus appears to move away from Jupiter, and Saturn appears a little higher each morning. Venus was simply brilliant all week at the FAW! You may note how it’s getting just a little brighter each morning at 7:00 AM; this fact is not missed by my parrots – who scream for attention at the first hint of morning’s light. A waning gibbous Moon appears near the star Regulus in the predawn sky on Jan. 22nd and 23rd. An almost third quarter moon appears near the star Spica high in the southwestern predawn sky on Jan. 26th. … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 8, 2019

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This entry is part 77 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

A thin crescent Moon will appear low in the southwestern sky at dusk on Jan. 8th. There will be a conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the star Antares in the southeastern predawn sky all week – each morning, Venus will appear to creep slowly closer to Jupiter. Mars remains high in southwestern sky after sunset all week; the Moon will appear near Mars on Jan. 12th. M51 – The The Whirlpool Galaxy M51 is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. The galaxy is in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Its distance is estimated to be between 15 – 35 million light-years. The Whirlpool’s most striking feature is its two curving arms, a hallmark of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. Many spiral galaxies possess numerous, loosely shaped arms that make their spiral structure less pronounced. These arms serve an important purpose in spiral galaxies. They are star-formation factories, compressing hydrogen gas and creating clusters of new stars. In … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 1, 2019

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This entry is part 76 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

Happy New Year! The first day of 2019 is one for the record books – a spacecraft has flown-by the most distant object in the solar system to date, and another spacecraft has entered into orbit around an asteroid! The Moon joins the multi-planet conjunction in the eastern predawn sky on the morning of Jan 1st. The Moon will appear very near the planet Venus on the morning of Jan. 3rd. Mars is high in southern sky after sunset all week; Mars continues to move slowly to the west and dim as the Earth pulls away from it in its orbit. Altair and Vega are the first stars visible in the western sky at dusk. The constellation Cassiopeia is high in the north-northwestern sky at 9:00 PM on Jan. 1st. Several other recognizable constellations are also in that direction. Today, the New Horizons spacecraft flew-by Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed “Ultima Thule.” This is the farthest object in the solar … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 26, 2018

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This entry is part 75 of 82 in the series In the Sky This Week

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry this post is a tad late, I’ve been a bit preoccupied the last couple days… The multi-planet conjunction in the eastern predawn sky continues this week. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; Mars is now at magnitude 0.39, down significantly from -2.78 during opposition at the end July 2018. The stars Altair and Vega battle for the title of “evening star” in the western sky at dusk. The Moon appears in the constellation Leo at midnight Dec. 27th. Observing Target: M64 – The Black Eye Galaxy M64 is a spiral galaxy located 17 million light years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. “A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy’s bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the “Black Eye” or “Evil Eye” galaxy. Fine details of the dark band are … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 11, 2018

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This entry is part 73 of 82 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 82 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 82 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 82 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 82 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 82 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 82 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 →