The Bat
The Custard
The Labradoodle
Although the Moon and Jupiter look close together on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, Jupiter is actually 1,500 times farther away — and 40 times larger in diameter. Faint, 8th-magnitude Neptune is 7 times farther than Jupiter. I was up very early on Tuesday Morning at 4:30, for reasons that will remain between me, the bat, the drum of lukewarm custard and the Labradoodle. The sky was icily clear the moon had set and there was no hint of the approaching dawn. Venus was blazing above long stone Orion was up to its right and Mars was between Taurus and Gemini, and the Pleiades, now up around midnight, were high in the south-eastern sky, Jupiter sadly had by that time sunk below the garrison. It was nice to see them all because I talk about the predawn sky every week but never see it and it all goes to confirm that I haven’t been lying to you for the last 3 months. Eventually it got a little to cold and I went back to bed, but before I did I’m sure I espied a shadowy figure creeping stealthily down church road, which could well have been Barbara S returning home with her nightly haul.
The sky this September sky has two celestial conjunctions.
The solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter, is now rising early enough for even younger children to catch a glimpse. It rises above the south-southeast horizon anytime after dark. Other than the Moon, and Venus at dawn, Jupiter is the brightest object in the night sky.
Even low-powered binoculars will reveal Jupiter’s four Galilean moons.
Near the end of the month, watch for the waxing gibbous Moon to rise with Jupiter. On the 29th, the two will be separated by less than two degrees. Of course, the Moon will be bright, so Jupiter may seem lost at first glance.
Earlier in the month the moon pairs as a waning crescent with our red neighbour, Mars. You will find the two in Gemini, in the hours before sunrise on the 13th, on your East horizon. That bright star in the same field of view is Mebsuta. Mebsuta is a super giant star located some 900 light-years distant. Mars, on the other hand, is currently just about 14 light-minutes away, while the Moon is a mere 1.3 light-seconds away … three very different objects appearing together to form one beautiful triangle.
Saturn has nipped behind the sun, maybe to eat some more of his kids, there’s a charming picture by goya on the blog, and some guides as well.
Venus (magnitude –4.0, in Cancer) blazes in the east before and during dawn.
Mars (magnitude +1.0, in the feet of Gemini) is high to the upper right of Venus before dawn.
Jupiter comes into view in the southeast as twilight fades — the first "star" to appear after sunset. And tonight you’ll see Jupiter just to the right of the moon, with Neptune, 20,000 times dimmer which you won’t see just to the moons lower left.
And sticking with tonight and Jupiter, if you’ve never seen Jupiter’s moons and don’t want to anyway, tonight’s the night not to see them, because tonight Jupiter displays no visible moons in a small telescope from 12:43 to 2:29 a.m. Thursday morning EDT (9:43 to 11:29 p.m. Wednesday evening PDT and this won't happen again until 2019, which is a strange sort of non event.
That was your weeks sky ending on the 43rd anniversary of Star Trek first appearing on NBC.
The sky this September sky has two celestial conjunctions.
The solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter, is now rising early enough for even younger children to catch a glimpse. It rises above the south-southeast horizon anytime after dark. Other than the Moon, and Venus at dawn, Jupiter is the brightest object in the night sky.
Even low-powered binoculars will reveal Jupiter’s four Galilean moons.
Near the end of the month, watch for the waxing gibbous Moon to rise with Jupiter. On the 29th, the two will be separated by less than two degrees. Of course, the Moon will be bright, so Jupiter may seem lost at first glance.
Earlier in the month the moon pairs as a waning crescent with our red neighbour, Mars. You will find the two in Gemini, in the hours before sunrise on the 13th, on your East horizon. That bright star in the same field of view is Mebsuta. Mebsuta is a super giant star located some 900 light-years distant. Mars, on the other hand, is currently just about 14 light-minutes away, while the Moon is a mere 1.3 light-seconds away … three very different objects appearing together to form one beautiful triangle.
Saturn has nipped behind the sun, maybe to eat some more of his kids, there’s a charming picture by goya on the blog, and some guides as well.
Venus (magnitude –4.0, in Cancer) blazes in the east before and during dawn.
Mars (magnitude +1.0, in the feet of Gemini) is high to the upper right of Venus before dawn.
Jupiter comes into view in the southeast as twilight fades — the first "star" to appear after sunset. And tonight you’ll see Jupiter just to the right of the moon, with Neptune, 20,000 times dimmer which you won’t see just to the moons lower left.
And sticking with tonight and Jupiter, if you’ve never seen Jupiter’s moons and don’t want to anyway, tonight’s the night not to see them, because tonight Jupiter displays no visible moons in a small telescope from 12:43 to 2:29 a.m. Thursday morning EDT (9:43 to 11:29 p.m. Wednesday evening PDT and this won't happen again until 2019, which is a strange sort of non event.
That was your weeks sky ending on the 43rd anniversary of Star Trek first appearing on NBC.
Saturn Devouring His Son is the name given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It depicts the Greek myth of Cronus (in the title Romanised to Saturn), who, fearing that his children would overthrow him, ate each one upon their birth. It is one of the series of Black Paintings that Goya painted directly onto the walls of his house sometime between 1819 and 1823.
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