Event Date: September 2nd
Time: 8:00 PM
Brief
Here is a quick look at the Mars/Saturn/Spica grouping...or what was! Mars has continued its separation from the other two, while much slower moving Saturn, has stayed close enough to Spica to easily fit in a binocular field with the star: just under 5º separated. Since we have had the Sun setting more than a minute earlier each day the last several days (and continuing at that rate on average for this month), it has meant that we have been able to see the trio before they get too low to the horizon. Here they are, with Mars already separated from Saturn by 10º. Less than three weeks ago, they were in a nearly straight line, which just goes to show that as we move further from Mars in our orbit, that we see it moving against the stars faster as well.
Time: 8:00 PM
Brief
Here is a quick look at the Mars/Saturn/Spica grouping...or what was! Mars has continued its separation from the other two, while much slower moving Saturn, has stayed close enough to Spica to easily fit in a binocular field with the star: just under 5º separated. Since we have had the Sun setting more than a minute earlier each day the last several days (and continuing at that rate on average for this month), it has meant that we have been able to see the trio before they get too low to the horizon. Here they are, with Mars already separated from Saturn by 10º. Less than three weeks ago, they were in a nearly straight line, which just goes to show that as we move further from Mars in our orbit, that we see it moving against the stars faster as well.
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Detailed
Although we are further from Mars each day, we don't see it change it phase much as we do with the inner planets; there is some wax and wane as our position with Mars changes, although it is minimal compared to the the crescent phases that we see of Mercury and Venus. With Mars, when it starts to approach the other side of the Sun, we still have a lit side facing us, as it only has superior conjunction and not inferior. With the latter, in the case of Mercury and Venus, we are seeing the shadowed side of each, opposite the Sun as they go between us. However, as we see with Mars and less so with each outer planet the further we go through Neptune, a hypothetical viewer on each of the inner planets facing Earth would see a certain percentage of wax and wane throughout the viewing of Earth. Since we will never find ourselves on either planet, I will hold off from showing images from that, yet it is a very similar concept as from Earth viewing Venus and Mercury. If viewing Saturn through Neptune from here, the change in phase is minimal enough that most people don't even think to look for such.
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