The Moon
skulks along the southeastern
horizon this week, waning to a
thin crescent in the pre-dawn
sky. New Moon occurs on the
26th at 9:06 am Pacific Daylight
Time. Look for Luna among the
dim stars of Capricornus, the
Sea-Goat just before sunrise on
the first mornings of the week.
Before dawn on the 22nd, look
for the bright glimmer of
Jupiter in the twilight glow
just to the left of the waning
crescen
With Luna’s absence from the evening sky for the next week, join the international astronomy awareness program known as “GLOBE at Night”. This simple exercise in basic stargazing will not only introduce you to some of the basics of skywatching, it will also allow you to contribute meaningful observations to the body of knowledge on atmospheric conditions using nothing more sophisticated than your eyes. The idea is quite simple: find the constellation Orion in the evening sky and count the number of stars you can see within the bounds of its brightest stars. You can report your findings on the official GLOBE at Night website and compare your observations with observers in 110 other participating countries. Your observations will ultimately lead to a global map of areas where there is significant light pollution as well as areas of relatively dark skies. “Wasted” nighttime outdoor lighting is one of the major sources of carbon emissions that are contributing to climate change. It is one of the few areas in the global arena that has an easy solution and benefits everyone. The more people participate in GLOBE at Night, the better we’ll understand the extent of this wasted energy resource and the more people will be sensitized to it. The program culminates with yet another International Year of Astronomy 2009 event that occurs on the night of the 28th. Known as “Earth Hour”, the concept is also quite simple: turn off all unnecessary outdoor lighting for one hour between 8:30 and 9:30 pm local time. This would be a great opportunity to lobby your local officials about the energy waste in municipal lighting, and if it’s a clear night you might even see a few more stars!
For those of you who have been enjoying the bright dazzle of Venus in the evening sky for the past several months, say your good-byes this weekend. Venus has seemingly plummeted from the sky over the past two weeks, and the next few evenings will offer your final opportunity to see her grace the evening sky this year. The dazzling planet passes “inferior conjunction” on the 27th at around 3:00 pm EDT. At this time she shares the same ecliptic longitude as the Sun, passing between Earth and Old Sol as she moves into the morning sky. Since the “demotion” of Pluto from the list of “major” planets, Venus now has the distinction of having the most highly inclined orbit to the plane of the solar system, so as she passes conjunction she will actually be some eight degrees north of the Sun. Vary careful skywatchers with good horizons to the west and east can theoretically see her just after sunset on the 27th and just before sunrise on the 28th!
With Venus’ departure the sole evening planet left in the sky is Saturn, whose serene yellow glow beams down from under the haunches of Leo as darkness settles. By 9:00 pm the ringed planet is high enough to get a good long look in the telescope. On first glance you might think that somebody stuck a very large hat pin in the planet’s side, but the thin streak of light you see is caused by the nearly edge-on appearance of his rings. In a modest telescope, look carefully along the ring plane to sight several of the planets small icy moons.
Early risers can now begin to see the bright glow of Jupiter low in the southeast just before sunrise. Old Jove will be our planet to scan during the summer months, but as we move into April and beyond he’ll be dancing an interesting duet with Venus, who will seem to vault into the pre-dawn sky in another week or two.
With Luna’s absence from the evening sky for the next week, join the international astronomy awareness program known as “GLOBE at Night”. This simple exercise in basic stargazing will not only introduce you to some of the basics of skywatching, it will also allow you to contribute meaningful observations to the body of knowledge on atmospheric conditions using nothing more sophisticated than your eyes. The idea is quite simple: find the constellation Orion in the evening sky and count the number of stars you can see within the bounds of its brightest stars. You can report your findings on the official GLOBE at Night website and compare your observations with observers in 110 other participating countries. Your observations will ultimately lead to a global map of areas where there is significant light pollution as well as areas of relatively dark skies. “Wasted” nighttime outdoor lighting is one of the major sources of carbon emissions that are contributing to climate change. It is one of the few areas in the global arena that has an easy solution and benefits everyone. The more people participate in GLOBE at Night, the better we’ll understand the extent of this wasted energy resource and the more people will be sensitized to it. The program culminates with yet another International Year of Astronomy 2009 event that occurs on the night of the 28th. Known as “Earth Hour”, the concept is also quite simple: turn off all unnecessary outdoor lighting for one hour between 8:30 and 9:30 pm local time. This would be a great opportunity to lobby your local officials about the energy waste in municipal lighting, and if it’s a clear night you might even see a few more stars!
For those of you who have been enjoying the bright dazzle of Venus in the evening sky for the past several months, say your good-byes this weekend. Venus has seemingly plummeted from the sky over the past two weeks, and the next few evenings will offer your final opportunity to see her grace the evening sky this year. The dazzling planet passes “inferior conjunction” on the 27th at around 3:00 pm EDT. At this time she shares the same ecliptic longitude as the Sun, passing between Earth and Old Sol as she moves into the morning sky. Since the “demotion” of Pluto from the list of “major” planets, Venus now has the distinction of having the most highly inclined orbit to the plane of the solar system, so as she passes conjunction she will actually be some eight degrees north of the Sun. Vary careful skywatchers with good horizons to the west and east can theoretically see her just after sunset on the 27th and just before sunrise on the 28th!
With Venus’ departure the sole evening planet left in the sky is Saturn, whose serene yellow glow beams down from under the haunches of Leo as darkness settles. By 9:00 pm the ringed planet is high enough to get a good long look in the telescope. On first glance you might think that somebody stuck a very large hat pin in the planet’s side, but the thin streak of light you see is caused by the nearly edge-on appearance of his rings. In a modest telescope, look carefully along the ring plane to sight several of the planets small icy moons.
Early risers can now begin to see the bright glow of Jupiter low in the southeast just before sunrise. Old Jove will be our planet to scan during the summer months, but as we move into April and beyond he’ll be dancing an interesting duet with Venus, who will seem to vault into the pre-dawn sky in another week or two.
