19.5.10

Old Town Inn Completes The Partial Mind


Well I tried I really did but could I find the moon let alone Venus on Sunday afternoon, well the short answer is no. And if any of you tried and failed as well, well that’ll teach you to listen to me.


Venus now moving from Taurus to Gemini) is the bright Evening Star shining in the west-northwest during and after twilight, and remains completely unmissable Capella is the bright star far to its upper right.


Mars (magnitude +0.9, in Cancer) is high in the west during evening, very far upper left of Venus along the ecliptic. Mars is moving eastward against the stars; week by week it's closing in on Regulus to its upper left. They'll pass each other on June 6th, 0.8° apart.

Jupiter (magnitude –2.2, below the Circlet of Pisces) shines in the east-southeast at the first light of dawn. Nothing else there is nearly so bright.

On Saturday the "star" and that’s star in quotes. above the gibbous Moon this evening (by about 8°: as seen from North America) is Saturn. The much fainter star about 2° to Saturn's lower right this week is Beta Virginis, which although my Latin doesn’t extend beyond amo agricola, means I think, virgin second class. And if you’re curious amo agricola means I love the farmer.

Saturn is high in the southwest during the evening. In a telescope Saturn's rings are tilted a mere 1.7° from edge-on, their minimum tilt for the next 15 years.

On Friday as dusk fades into night, turn binoculars or a telescope on Venus in the west-northwest. Look less than 1° lower left of Venus for the big open star cluster M35, but wait until the end of twilight

And that’s about it for this week a week that ends on the 468th anniversary of the ending of the Diet of Worms, when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issued the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw, a bit like a pious German Billy the Kid I guess.

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