Venus

[Enzo]

FInally spotted Venus in my evening sky. Unless it was an UFO.

I somehow find her presence comforting. Haven't seen her since she left the morning sky quite a while ago.

[Heid the Ba]

I find Orion comforting, goes back to riding a motorbike at night in winter I suppose.

[Enzo]

Orion, he stands as he rises, and lies down as he sets. And the Pleiades signal his coming. AT least that is how I look upon it. How could that not be a favorite part of the sky?

[troubleagain]

Orion's one of the few constellations I can pick out. The Big Dipper or Great Bear or whatever, yeah, and sometimes Cygnus, but that's about it.

[MM_Dandy]

I like Orion, too. He's real big, gets high enough to clear buildings and trees (unlike Scorpio). He's easy to spot from dark streets and when the sky is filled with stars (on especially clear and dark nights, I always had trouble picking out other constellations from the background stars). And, best of all, that red supergiant star in his shoulder can be called "Beetle Juice" (Betelgeuse). So, young men, if you want to impress the ladies a little, get to know Orion.

It's no wonder Horkheimer mentions Orion at least once a month or so.

[Enzo]

The summer triangle is pretty easy, and high in the sky. If you can find Cygnus, you ought to be able to find the triangle.

And the flattened W of Cassiopeia.


I like the tip of Orion's sword, one of the easiest to see nebulae in the sky, for me at least. As compared to Andromeda, for which the sky has to be pretty clear and dark. ( I am strictly naked eye.)

[KLA2]

Yes. Orion is my favorite. Many others are cool (love the Pleiades)

If you have a pair of binoculars (or, of course, a telescope) and can see the summer triangle, look for the coathanger cluster. It is about 1/3 of the way on a line from Altair to Vega, and darned if it does not look like its namesake!

[Enzo]

My dad was fascinated by astronomy, though he never did anything about it other than look through scope catalogs and picture books. But he lived in Washington DC, where even Orion can be tough to see. I live in rural Michigan, and I mean real farm land. On days when it is not cloudy, we can see some serious stars. So I tend to take certain things for granted. Milky Way for example.

One winter I was visiting the old homestead, and happened to notice it was very clear down there, and not so humid as in summer. SO I looked up and straight overhead was Andromeda. meaning the galaxy, not the constellation. I am a naked eye man myself, and Andromeda is about as challenging a thing to spot as I generally get into. Mercury is too, but in a totally different way. So I was pleased I could see it there in Washington.

I went back in the house and casually mentioned to my dad how clear it was, so clear I could even see Andromeda. Dad's eyes got big and he all but dragged me back outside, "show me show me show me." And in fact, my father was indeed from Missouri. He had never seen it before and it was exciting to him.

SO I pointed out Cassiopea, and then y'see that arc of stars there, now those couple of stars running off at an angle, and then off the end one about half the distance between it and the last and at an angle there, y'see that little smudge? Yeah... That's it! And he just stared at it. For a long time. And I was happy I had the chance to show my dad something he had never seen.


So Andromeda is a fun target to me. And I have to admit I have never seen it through a lens.



Dad also asked me if I could explain corriolis, corellis, coreoliss, Oh the clockwise hemisphere thing, he could never understand it. I said sure, it isn;t hard. But like most family visits, we were distracted, and next thing I know, it is time for us to leave. Oh well, I'll tell him about it next trip. Only he passed away before that next trip. I know it is silly, but I always felt kinda guilty I never told my old man how it works. At least I gave him the Andromeda.

[Мастер]

A few days ago, a really bright planet was right next to the moon. Can anyone advise on what it was?

[Enzo]

I think it hit the moon, because I looked out last night and part of the moon was missing.


That would be Jupiter. COmes up not long after sunset. High and bright. About -2.9 magnitude.

[Мастер]

I think it hit the moon, because I looked out last night and part of the moon was missing.

I saw that too!

That would be Jupiter. COmes up not long after sunset. High and bright. About -2.9 magnitude.

That was my guess, because it seemed like it was up well into the night. But I wasn't sure.

I took a photo with my crappy phone camera, but can't post it due to some undiagnosed software problem - new computer does not recognize the phone :(

[Arneb]

Hmmm, are you sure it was really Jupiter?

[Enzo]

I guess it depends how many days ago. I watch the moon cross the sky, and predict in my head where it will be with respect to the background the next night. I remember a few days back thinking the moon would be right next to Jupiter the next day.

Venus is pretty low these days, Jupiter crosses up and over all night long.

Whatever planets are visible, the moon will move past them soon enough.

[Superluminal]

Once knew a young woman from Venus
Who really loved my rather large [spoiler]telescope[/spoiler].

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[KLA2]

^ Uses a Barlow.

Sorry, couldn't resist. :P

[Enzo]

What kind of mount does she prefer?

[Enzo]

OK, the moon is closing on Jupiter, and tomorrow ought to be right next to it. SO if the bright thing you saw the other day is that thing up by the moon Tuesday evening, it was Jupiter.

Jupiter is closing in on us fast. The newspaper ran a story about how it is the closest it has been to Earth in 50 years.

"Better catch Jupiter next week in the night sky. It won't be that big or bright again until 2022." Oh dear. That means we will start getting emails about watching Jupiter get larger than the moon and such. Like when Mars last "approached."

They also mention Uranus is at its closest, and near Jupiter in the sky. They mentioned picking it out with the naked eye. I for one have never seen it. At least not knowingly. I wasn't aware it was readily viewable naked eye. Don't know if I can believe them or not.

[Мастер]

OK, the moon is closing on Jupiter, and tomorrow ought to be right next to it. SO if the bright thing you saw the other day is that thing up by the moon Tuesday evening, it was Jupiter.

Jupiter is closing in on us fast. The newspaper ran a story about how it is the closest it has been to Earth in 50 years.

"Better catch Jupiter next week in the night sky. It won't be that big or bright again until 2022." Oh dear. That means we will start getting emails about watching Jupiter get larger than the moon and such. Like when Mars last "approached."

I love these. The earth catches up to Jupiter, what, about every 13 months? So this means, because of the particular orientations of the slightly elliptical orbits, Jupiter will be maybe 0.5% closer than it is at the other nearly annual events, or something like that . . .

They also mention Uranus is at its closest, and near Jupiter in the sky. They mentioned picking it out with the naked eye. I for one have never seen it. At least not knowingly. I wasn't aware it was readily viewable naked eye. Don't know if I can believe them or not.

Now, that I have to look for. We don't always have the clearest skies here, though. I could go over to Bukhit Timah and get a better view, I'll be 150 metres closer.

[Arneb]

Uranus's naked eye visibility is marginal at 5.7 or something. Even if you can spot it, it will be one bright spot among many. Maybe if you can memorize the star pattern in the vicinity and then come back for a compüarision a few days later, you can makle out which exceedingly faint dot is actually URanus.

[Enzo]

Oh clearly I'd need a chart for Uranus spotting.


yeah we go past Jupiter every so many months, this time it is marginally closer. But the ignoramuses in the press tellinng us to rush right out and see it or we'll miss it, gets me.

[Superluminal]

What kind of mount does she prefer?

Fork mount.

[KLA2]

^

[Enzo]

Use the fork, Luke.