Mercury emerging west of Sun: dim and low

Event Date: March 8th

Time: 6:00 AM

Brief

   We just saw Mercury have its best evening apparition of the year, regarding declination difference with the Sun.  Mercury was a wonderful sight to see the few days before both greatest elongation and perihelion.  Now, as it slows down in retrograde on the west side of the Sun, Mercury is starting its poorest morning apparition of the year.  It only gets worse as the planet stays on this side of the Sun, between now and the days after greatest elongation.  I will explain more about that in the detailed section, following this image of Mercury with the celestial equator, ecliptic, and its orbit.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   The first thing to take note of is Mercury's ecliptic latitude: we are viewing its plane from an angle, which lets us see it over 3º north.  It was because of this good latitude, that during its previous apparition in the evening, the ecliptic didn't have to have the best angle with the horizon.  Now, as Mercury swings back towards the other side of the Sun, it will stay there--from our perspective--for a little over the course of a little over two months.  The planet reaches aphelion in a little over a month from now, which is about the time of its next greatest elongation.  As it approaches that point, retrograde has already ended, yet not before the planet falls far enough south of the Sun to be in the glare of it for most of this apparition.  

   Of course, most southern hemisphere viewers will love this apparition.  For them, Mercury will not only be about as far separated as it will be all year; with favorable geometry, certain latitudes there see the planet set a little over 2 hours after Sunset, and well out of the atmospheric pollution.  As for us, with unfavorable geometry and a Sun rising over a minute earlier each morning between now and about late April, we are best off seeing Mercury for its next morning apparition, when the declination is about the same during the days sandwiching that of greatest elongation.  Until that time, try to find Mercury in a few weeks with optical aid, and with the eye a couple weeks after that.

Gemini seen high-- its "head" stars aligned

Event Date: March 7th

Time: 8:21(.13) PM

Brief

Castor and Pollux, the Gemini (twin) head stars, are about 4 1/2º in separation.  As seen from our latitude, they are not far from zenith during 20 minutes sandwiching the exact transit time, before and after.  For the second image below, I have set a time for when the two are not only high in the sky shortly before transit; they are the exact azimuth.  Why does this matter?  It really doesn't, since they are easy enough to slew from one to the other with no optical aid with the a telescope.  This is just one of those nights that I have little else to write about, and decided to get silly with crazy star patterns and alignments to the horizon!

  Here are the two stars with the the entire constellation seen high in the sky, followed by a zoom-in of the two with the alt-az grid.  Looking at the altitude lines, notice that the spacing of the stars between the lines is almost exactly the same.  If using binoculars, hold them steady and level to the ground, noticing that the two stars are in line up-and-down with each other.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   When we see the stars rise in the east-northeast, they are similar in azimuth already.  When we see them setting more than 15 hours later, they are much different in azimuth and more similar in altitude.  Most mid-northern latitude viewers see it this latter way, as the northern stars circle around the celestial pole each day.  At declinations 28º and 32º for Pollux and Castor respectfully, they are further north than the Sun at the June solstice when it comes near them.  Castor is seen a little closer to zenith at southern US latitudes, and transits (near) there.

   As a multiple star system, Castor has two components, which coulde be seen with the unaided eye if they didn't orbit so close to the star!  A powerful enough telescope can split them however, as they are only 4.4 arc-seconds from Castor.

   Pollux is not quite as interesting.  Unlike hot, younger Castor, Pollux is an old, dying star, already a yellow-orange color as a giant.  It is 10 solar radii large, which isn't too big compared to some stars (especially Antares, Betelgeuse and some other red giants), yet it is likely still growing bigger.

Find out more about both stars at this link: 

Jupiter and Saturn: will "opposites attract"??

Event Date: March 6th

Time: 11:36(.05)PM

Brief

   Alright, so you may be thinking that subject header for this entry--which I came up with on the fly in about 15 seconds--is awkward and perhaps wondering what it has to do with astronomy.  There is a connection however--albeit an abstract one--with what I will talk about here!

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Almost 12 years ago, May 28th 2000, Jupiter and Saturn had a separation of 1.1º.   A little over 10 years later on August 13th of 2010, they were at their furthest separation possible, at opposite sides of the celestial dome.  Since then, faster Jupiter has closed the gap and has started to catch up with Saturn in orbit.  

In regards to my header, are you catching on yet?? Let's examine further.

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   The image below shows 180º of celestial dome, while Jupiter sets and Saturn rises.  Each day as it catches up with Saturn, this month specifically, the gaps between Jupiter's [prograde] setting times are larger than Saturn's [retrograde] rising.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

At 152.8º separated and shrinking, both planets are 12º 37.4' in altitude at the time above.  If you have an alt/az telescope centered on Jupiter about a minute earlier, slew it in azimuth only to Saturn over the course of a minute or less, and Saturn would appear in the field at about the same centered spot as Jupiter.  This is a fun thing to try because each evening, the precise-same altitude for both will be slightly higher.  The opposite would hold true if Jupiter was currently in retrograde and slower Saturn in prograde, although such would mean that we would see them "flipped" in the sky at this time of night; Jupiter rising and Saturn setting, that is.  Jupiter's retrograde at peak is not much slower than its prograde.

   The rate of catchup each year until their next encounter depends on which planet is in prograde or retrograde motion.  In some cases, one may be moving one way to another while the other is stationary.  Jupiter has started to pick up speed in prograde as mentioned in recent entries, while Saturn is starting to increase in retrograde.  As a result, Jupiter is starting to catch up a little more quickly than it was even a week ago.  Can you predict when Jupiter catches up with Saturn?  The separation at closest encounter will even differ from the Y2K aforementioned, since it will happen in a part of the sky where the orbits for the two will be closer or further from each other.  Can you figure that part out too?  I already looked up the answer, which I will obviously not reveal here.

 If watching Jupiter close in on Saturn annually, give it a try, and see how close you come in predicting correctly!

Draco, and a former pole star

Event Date: March 5th

Time: 12:00 AM

Brief

  A couple of days ago, I showed how Canes Venatici "chased" the two bears in the sky-- even though it appears as if only the case with Ursa Major.  While doing so, I included the illustrations for them.  I will come back to the bears for tonight, and show another animal in that part of the sky: Draco, the dragon.  Although a faint constellation, Draco's figure is long, and seems to curve around half of Ursa Minor and the north celestial pole (n.c.p.), precisely 39 arc-minutes from Poloris.

   Let's take a look below, and notice how for at least the illustrations used here, that there is a slight overlap of Draco and Ursa Minor.  Their boundaries of course, do not overlap, although the space between the stick figures and stars are very close to each other.

Detailed

   In the second image, I will point out a very key star in Draco, named Thuban. Although not very bright at magnitude 3.6 , it is enough so under dark enough skies that about 4,800 years ago, Thuban was close enough to the n.c.p. that it was the pole star.  In about 21,000 more years, it will be at that declination once again (26,000-5,000).  Back then, centuries before serious light pollution, it would have been easy enough to see Thuban.  I am not sure how popular star-gazing was then, and astronomy in general.  However, whether building pyramids in Egypt or one empire in the process of conquering another(?), looking at the sky under dark conditions would haven become popular then and there.

   In the image, besides centering Thuban I included the precession cycle, which is labeled by certain key years.  I took away the illustrations and kept the stick figures.  Also for anyone wondering, the closest that Thuban was to the n.c.p. then was very close: 89º 53' 56" the middle months of 2800 BC.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

 

more on Libra, and a star cluster within

Event Date: March 4th

Time: 4:34(.06) AM

Brief

  Let's continue with our viewing of faint Libra, which I featured more in depth yesterday, besides only its brightest stars.  The Scales are seen looking away from the plane of the Milky Way, which we see pass to its east between Scorpious and Sagittarius.  This is more noticeable when high enough and when Libra is far enough past transit.  As a result of looking this many degrees from the galactic equator, therefore its spectrum, there is very little deep sky that is easily visible even through a telescope.  There are other galaxies to view nearby, seen in and near Virgo and Leo, instead of Libra, making the weighing scales' part of the sky somewhat ignored.  However, there is one very attractive celestial body to see within Libra's boundaries: Saturn!  Albeit only for 2+ years, it will help give the constellation a little more attention, perhaps.  Besides that, the only labeled deep-sky that gets easy binocular and telescope attention is a globular star cluster: NGC 5897.  In the second image, the 10th magnitude cluster is magnified, yet requires enough magnification and light gathering power through a telescope to see.  Although a near-3rd quarter Moon is nearby, it is far enough away from the labeled deep-sky to not interfere much if skies are free from any clouds and/or high humidity.

Detailed

The field for the cluster is 15 arc-minutes, which is a magnification of about 200x.  The cluster seems more compact at magnifications about half of this.  It is what I call a "loose globular, since when compared to others such as M3 and M13, the center is very definite and there is a rapid spreading of the stars once we look far enough from the center.  In the case of NCG 5897, there is no definite core.  At magnitude 8.5, this cluster is dimmer than 7th magnitude M3 and 13, partly for being much further away at 41,000 light years.  More info and images of the cluster can be found at this link http://spider.seds.org/spider/MWGC/n5897.html  As seen from the images there, it is an excellent target to photograph using long exposure.  Once the Moon is further out of the way, give that a try if you have the equipment for it.  Whether a powerful telescope or a small less-powerful one, the cluster is a fun one to find, being a bit challenging to do so.  With Saturn not far and being brighter than any of the constellations stars, imagine a line starting there extending through one of yesterday's mentioned stars: Zubenelgenubi.  The general direction of this line if straight, takes us to the cluster.  When Saturn moves in retrograde next season and early summer, that line starting with it and ending with the cluster ends up being more straight.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

The Moon, Libra, and "gateway" stars

Event Date: March 3rd

Time: 4:54(.44) AM

Brief

   The waning, gibbous Moon is nearing 3rd quarter, and about its highest in the sky not long before Sunrise.  At a little less than 2/3rds illuminated, it rose during the late evening yesterday, several degrees south of the Sun at this time of year for its current phase.  It is in the dim constellation of Libra the [weighing] Scales, and its glare makes even the brightest two stars of Libra hard to see.  I will label them anyway in the image below, as a reminder of their acting as "gateway" stars.  More about that reminder is in the detailed section, following this image.  As I have recently, I will this time show the classical illustration of Libra dimly overlapping its stick figure.  Most of the stars for the figure are too faint to see even without the Moon in the way.

Detailed

   

   The two stars that I mentioned, Zubeneschameli and Zubenelgenubi, used to mark the claws of Scorpious, with its distinguishable star pattern to Libra's southeast (bottom left).  As shown by the illustration, Zubenelgenubi does not mark the other scale, yet the top of the balance hanger...or whatever it's called!  That aside, notice that it is almost on the ecliptic, slightly north of it by a fraction of a degree.  The Moon's orbit took it south of this star less than 24 hours ago.  As the precession of the nodes for the Moon's orbit continues, it will finally start passing between the stars a little over a year from now, emphasizing the gateway term for the scale's stars.

   Even when the Moon's orbit has it south of the gateway, the outer planets--Mars through Neptune--have their orbits pass through the gateway at that celestial longitude.  Unlike the Moon, there is no precession of the nodes for Jupiter through Neptune over the course of thousands of years, while Mars' precession is much slower than that of the Moon.

This next image shows a zoom-in of the stars and the planets' orbits.  Uranus' orbit--in grey--just barely passes north of Zubenelgenubi.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

   Now, as I keep using that term, you may wonder why else they are called gateway stars.  Although I am not certain, I can say that after passing them and Libra, the Moon, star and planets head towards the galactic center-area of the sky, where they pass near many deep sky wonders; I labeled some of those in this entry. As they get higher in the sky during evening viewing next season, I will start to show them magnified.

Mercury approaching inferior conjunction

Event Date: March 2nd

Time: 6:00 PM

Brief

   Mercury's retrograde over the last eight days has meant a "plunging" towards the Sun.  After all, at this time of year when it is north of the Sun-- with our star moving in that direction.  Mercury's retrograde means that the declination gap shrinks dramatically between the two.  Coupled with Mercury rapid waning in phase and hardly a change in distance from us in comparison, the planet's magnitude has dropped quickly during the retrograde and it hasn't been visible the last few days.

   What I will show below, following Mercury's position to the Sun with the celestial guidelines, is a magnified showing of Mercury as a thin waning crescent.  Although it is buried in the Sun's glare and too dim, this is simply to show how most of Mercury's illuminated side is facing away from us, while still a tiny disc a little less than 60 million miles from us.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   

   As shown in image two, I magnified Mercury at only about 500x, despite this making it hard to see the 1% illumination.  The reason for this is simple: even when at a better elongation from the Sun, Mercury is often too deep in atmospheric pollution to magnify; too much refraction of the Sunlight reflected off of it leads to lots of "ripple" making the phase shape less definite.

   One thing to realize is that Mercury is still only a couple of weeks from perihelion and therefore, not as close to us as it would be for near-inferior conjunctions in during December and January; these are the months when we are closer to the Sun for our perihelion and days sandwiching it.  When Mercury is at aphelion and we are at perihelion, that is when it closest to us and therefore, its disc size is a little bigger.  Its magnitude is not different as a result of the small percent of illumination, yet I thought to mention this.  For upcoming inferior conjunctions, coming up in the middle and late this year, I will compare Mercury's distance from Earth.  Once again, even if not visible to us because of the Sun and its phase, it is still fun to notice this, considering the shapes of our orbit and Mercury's.  That, along with remembering that the Sun is not in the center of either, or any planets' orbit.

Dogs chasing" bears!?

Event Date: March 1st

Time: 2:40(.23) AM

Brief

   I ended February with a "dog showing": Canis Major and Minor, along with the two hunting dogs, Canes Venatici (CV).  While the Big and Little dogs act as companions as the hunter Orion, it makes CV seem out of place.  Besides that they are "depicted as being companions to Boötes" [the Herdsman], which I mentioned earlier, it was also believed they they chase Ursa Major and Minor around the north celestial pole (n.c.p.).  Given the declination of CV, not too far from that of the Big Bear's feet, this makes some sense.  However, Ursa Minor is further north, with some of its stars very close to the pole.  Instead of me getting too analytical about this, let's take a look at them.

   The first image shows how high CV gets at transit, while the second shows the constellation along with the circumpolar Bears.  Notice that the end of Ursa Major's tail, marking the handle of the Big Dipper, is also not far from zenith, while the end tail-star of Ursa Minor, being Polaris.  Both images include the alt-az grid.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   

   For both images, Cor Caroli, the brighter of the two CV stars that make up its stick figure, is very near zenith when it transits; its declination is a little over 38º.  Therefore, as seen from most mid-northern latitudes, the star is at or very close to zenith.

  At the time above, Ursa Major is well above the horizon, with its head stars closest to the n.c.p.  I brightened the illustrations in image two, so we could see if the dogs are indeed chasing the bears.  By the appearance, they are almost on the heal of Ursa Major, while Ursa Minor is always facing the dogs doing this, facing 'Major's tail.  The altitude/azimuth gridlines show how all this activity is high in our mid-northern latitude sky.  At latitudes further north, around 50-60º north, they are all high in the sky, while when viewed at the celestial equator, they are only above the horizon for half the night on average.

Orion, ¡y muchos perros!

Event Date: February 28th

Time: 7:06(.51) PM/10:00 PM

Brief

   Translation of my header from Spanish to English is simply as follows: Orion, and many dogs (in the sky, that is)!  As I was showing Orion's illustration yesterday, preceded by his easy-to-recognize stick figure, I ended by mentioning that there are other constellations in the sky that resemble figures or animals; one of which seemingly follows Orion, appropriately so, as one of his two companions: Canis Major.  Unlike his "little brother", perhaps literally known as Canis Minor, the bigger dog's stick figure actually looks like that of a dog's body figure.  Canis Minor, on the other hand, is just two stars, with a stick figure of a line connecting both to indicate the length of the dog's body.  One of those stars, Procyon (labeled), is the 8th brightest in our sky, making the Little Dog easy to locate.  The only other unaided eye star, dimmer Eta Canis Minoris.  However, compare the stick figures in the first image to notice what I am talking about.  That one is followed by one showing their illustrations.

Detailed

   

As Canis Major's stick figure shows in image one, we seem to be looking at him side-view: his tail, and two sets of legs (closer ones to us showing).  As mentioned in the brief, this is much more interesting than Canis Minor, although both dogs symbolize one thing as a duo, so their presence can not be overlooked.  How so?  Look back at my M3 entry from late last month.  Although I may have mentioned the declination for that fine globular cluster, I don't recall talking much about the small constellation that it is part of: Canes Venatici* (CV).  This is the second set of hunting dogs in the sky.  Although Major and Minor are dogs accompanying a hunter, being Orion, they are not given that name; hence it is given to the other two, which are close to Boötes, the Herdsman.  Take a look at this third image of them, in their location near Arcturus, shown below the dogs' feet.  For this one, I forwarded the clock ahead by about three hours to show them high enough up.  Similar to Canis Minor, as just two stars: Chara and previously mentioned Cor Caroli. As the case with Canis Minor, the CV stick figure is not as impressive as Canis Major.  I dimmed the image, so as not to overwhelm the stick figure, which in thinking, is probably a silly thing to do, given their dimness!

*True, that different spelling for the first word is correct, although I do not know why!

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Orion: stick figure and illustration, at transit

Event Date: February 27th

Time: 7:10(.47) PM

Brief

   As Jupiter starts descending faster towards the horizon, high in the west-southwest, we see Orion at its highest.  Some people base this on when the belt stars are parallel with the horizon.  In the case of some latitudes, this may be the case.  However at mid-northern latitudes, that is when the constellation as a whole is past transit by about an hour.  Looking at the image below with the stick figure of The Hunter, we see that he is nearly "floating" in an upright position, when taking into account the stars that mark his body parts, joints, and how he holds his club high.  In the second image, I include the classical illustration to show this, and how the belt with its stars, are slanted around his waist.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   As the second image shows, it seems as if Orion is down on one knee.  He is definitely not proposing to someone with an engagement ring (sorry, bad joke)!  More seriously, he seems to be defending himself against Taurus* the Bull, which he must be ready to defend.  The illustrations for the constellations are quite interesting, and I plan to show more of them as the year progresses.  Orion is a favorite not only because he is easy to remember, yet because some people like the way he holds a club and shield; the stars that indicate these weapons are not too dim.  

   There are other constellations near Orion that are not as easy to make out as figures of animals or people, yet one is very easy to his bottom left.  Can you tell??  The brightest star, Sirius--as a hint--marks a nose, while other stars seem to make out its body.  Find out the answer tomorrow, if you can't remember on your own.

*Taurus is unlabeled, yet if you have seen it in the sky enough times, the stars around Jupiter are definitely familiar, along with the horn stars to Orion's upper right.  

waning, gibbous Moon slow to rise

Event Date: February 26th

Time: 7:45 PM

Brief

   The Moon rises sightly over an hour later than yesterday, by about 3 minutes.  As it moves further south quickly over the next few days after that, it is moving in the part of the sky that our Sun does near/at the time of the September equinox.  The Moon's orbit keeps it a few degrees south of the ecliptic for the next few days until reaching ascending node.  It will be seen waning quickly until then and through 3rd quarter.  Seen below at 98% illuminated, it is still very bright as well, washing out that part of the sky which lacks easy-to-see deep sky anyway; it is mostly far away galaxies, which I will get more into when the Moon is out of the way.

Detailed

   As we look at the Moon zoomed in here, with a field of 1º, we can see how the terminator is starting to show again on the western (top) limb.  This is where the Sun is setting therefore casting that slight shadow.  If a person is on the Moon, walking along the same latitude at all times, (s)he can see the Sunset.  Of course, this rate of the shadow rapidly "inching" around the entire disc, takes the same amount of time as one revolution for our satellite with Earth: precisely 29.5 days.  If that same person on the Moon walked along the terminator over the course of this time, (s)he would always see a little Sun over the Moon's horizon.  However, since there is absolutely no atmosphere on the Moon, there is not a blue sky there; just black, with a glare surrounding the Sun.  For when the Sun is not above the horizon, the slow rotation of the Moon means that the stars are seen rising and setting very slowly as well.

   As for our view of the now-waning gibbous, here is the 1º showing, with the terminator.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

The amount of shadowed surface area of Moon towards our eyes is a "sliver", similar to how we see the Moon just before and after it is new.  It is also how someone on the Moon would view the Earth if far enough out of the Sun's glare.  That is, we are between the two, and most of the light shining towards our daytime side, faces away from a waxing and waning gibbous Moon of 98%.

Moon at crest of fullness-- later rising low

Event Date: February 25th

Time: 12:26/6:42(.48)PM

Brief

   Here is something interesting to think about: the Sun's transit on this date for our coordinates of 38º N and 122º W, was 12:22 PM.  "Big deal, right(?)", you may sarcastically think.  Well, there's more: just four minutes later, the Moon reached the (crest) of fullness, at 180º from the Sun in elongation.  We can also think of the 180º separation as opposition, and we are familiar with this term with the outer planets.  Let's look at the Moon at about as far as it gets below the horizon at the crest, while the Sun is just a few minutes past transit.  To show both, I had to get creative and show half of the celestial dome.  The software lets me do enough of a "panoramic" effect to show 191º and include both the Sun and Moon.

Detailed

   For viewers in other parts of the world who want to see the Moon's crest of fullness, they wouldn't need an effect such as this.  That is, in continents such as Europe and Africa, it would be rising; in the Middle East, it would be seen near its highest in the sky; in other places such as Australia, Pacific Islands and eastern Asia, it would be setting.

   For the next image, I will forward the clock ahead and show the Moon rising low in the east.  As mentioned above, this is the way parts of Europe and Africa see it when our Sun is about where it is for us in image one.  The sky isn't quite dark when the Moon is just barely over the horizon, and (although the software won't show it) will look a yellow-ochre color seen in the atmospheric pollution.  Enjoy it rise, while it still looks nearly round from our view.  At the second time listed at the top, is when the Moon is seen directly east, at azimuth 90º, hence my showing it that way.  Just as the Sun is seen low at the horizon at this exact spot a few days after the March equinox and a few days before the September equinox, the Moon does about six months before and after, depending exactly when you look and where its orbit has it north or south of the ecliptic (i.e. the precession of the nodes that I have mentioned in previous entries).

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Uranus gets low, near stars of Pisces

Event Date: February 24th

Time: 6:14(.41)PM

Brief

   Do you have a clear enough horizon--free of obstruction--to still find Uranus? If you do, try to catch it before it gets too low into atmospheric pollution.  By the time that the sky gets dark enough to try to see its color, it will only be high enough for a short time to see it, and then the greenish-blue appearance will fade.

The first image below shows the stick figure of this hard-to-see rope tied to a fish on each end: Pisces. The western "circlet" of stars, outlines one fish, while the other is not indicated by a shape at all, at the other end of the stick figure.  The second image shows Uranus in a binocular field with the closest, unaided stars creating Pisces'. Delta and Omega Piscium, both of 4th magnitude.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

If you recall during a recent posting of Uranus, I showed the star-field.  While there are no bright stars near Aries for the next several years, there are still a few in Pisces within binocular range of the planet, that are barely visible to the eye under the darkest of skies.

   This evening, Uranus can be seen most easily with each star separately, a little more than 8º from each.  It is slightly closer to the Omega star by less than three arcminutes.  Between next year and 2018, Uranus will approach Delta Piscium, with its progrades and retrogrades keeping it within 4º of the star and closer than 3º at times.  Uranus doesn't have any very close encounters with any other unaided eye stars, although it does come close to dimmer stars within Pisces.  The closest star it gets to over the duration of the next 24 hours is 44 Piscium almost exactly the same magnitude as Uranus itself-- just slightly brighter.  It is seen close to the planet in the above image just under 5 arc-minutes away.

  

Jupiter near eastern quadrature

Event Date: February 23rd

Time: 6:14(.41)PM

Brief

   Jupiter put on an excellent show this past fall and through the first two-plus months of winter, making triangular configurations with red giant star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster.  The Hyades star cluster has also been close by.  Now, moving slightly faster in prograde motion each day, Jupiter is starting to move away from this trio and further east in the constellation of Taurus.  Also, as the Sun continues to move east towards this part of the sky, we have Jupiter for a limited number of hours after Sunset, compared to the weeks shortly following its opposition.  Shown below, Jupiter is near eastern quadrature (two days from now), as it transits shortly after Sunset.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   Since Jupiter sets--on average--three minutes earlier each day between now and conjunction, that, plus the Sun setting later, is one reason that Jupiter's time in the evening sky will dwindle quickly.  Also, because of the Sun's glare in the way, the last month that Jupiter is east of our star will not be one for which it is too visible.  It will remain about as bright as it is now, at least noticeably.  However, atmospheric pollution and the Sun's glare will lead to unaided eye viewing being challenging.  By that time also, Jupiter will be near the Taurus/Gemini border.  As we pull further away from it in orbit, Jupiter's prograde motion increases faster, and it is fastest at conjunction.  When we see Jupiter again emerge from the Sun in the morning sky during late June and early July, we will notice a difference of where it is against the stars compared to where it will be against them about two months before conjunction; when surrounding stars around it are still visible, that is!

Saturn's 2-year celestial path, and ring angle

Event Date: February 22nd

Time: 4:37(.56) AM

Brief

   Saturn has crept further south of the celestial equator rapidly over the last two-plus years: first, when approaching western Virgo where the Sun is at the September equinox; also after leaving this longitude and moving through Virgo towards the constellation of Libra.  Only its retrogrades have brought it a little further north.  As we approach its upcoming opposition in late April, that will be preceded by another retrograde beginning.  The celestial path of Saturn over the last two years is shown below, with the increment markers for every 30 days. 

Detailed

  Notice above, how each retrograde has brought it back north, and each prograde back south.  Looking closely at image one, there is a slight "loop" in the celestial path; this a result of our orbit not inclined the same way Saturn's is and therefore, it changes in ecliptic latitude slightly.  Also for each Saturn retrograde, there seems to be slight "wobble" in the rings, although it takes several days to notice.  During prograde motion over the last few years, we have seen the ring angle to our eyes improve, while getting slightly worse during retrograde.  A few years ago, we viewed Saturn straight towards its equator and the rings spent a few weeks appearing nearly "edge-on".  Now, we are viewing the planet while it is at a celestial longitude allowing us to see more of the rings.  Therefore, that reflected Sun off of the icy [particle] rings makes Saturn appear a little brighter than average at oppositions.  Take a look here, and notice that we are viewing it nearly halfway between its equator and pole.  Its Moons and a couple of dim stars of similar magnitudes (unlabled) seem scattered about around Saturn, instead of in-line. 

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.