Skywatch June 2009 (newest at top)

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, June twenty-ninth and thirtieth.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 8:37 PM; night falls at 10:53. Dawn breaks at 3:04 AM and ends with sunrise at 5:20.

The First Quarter Moon joins Saturn on Monday night. The Moon occupies the constellation Virgo on both nights, straddling the bright star Spica. Both set after midnight.

Jupiter and Neptune rise shortly after 11 PM. If horizons are clear, one can see Jupiter and Neptune low in the east, with Saturn and the Moon low in west.

Jupiter and Neptune are best observed before dawn begins, in the same low power view. Uranus rises after midnight, joined by Mars and Venus in dawn hours. Fifth magnitude Uranus lies under the Circlet of Pisces. Dim Mars lies three degrees above much brighter Venus. Mercury hovers nine degrees above the eastern horizon, to Venus' lower left.

On June 30, 1908, a bright object roared out of the sky and exploded over a Siberian forest. The resulting blast knocked people off their feet 70 kilometers away. Barometers around the world monitored the blast wave.

The region, near the Tunguska River, was remote. Twenty years later, scientist Leonid Kulik led an expedition. The forest was devastated for miles, with trees felled in a radial pattern. Suspecting a meteor, the expedition dredged the swamp to no avail.

Thanks to NASA, we now know that the object was an comet that entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded several miles above the surface with a force between three and five times the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb. In 1947, a large asteroid broke apart and impacted the Kamchatka Peninsula, also in Russia. Today, meteor collectors buy pieces of the Sikote-Alin meteorite, as it is now called.

In October 2008, astronomers discovered an asteroid would impact Earth in the area of the Nubian Desert in Sudan, Africa. As with Tunguska, the asteroid blew. Astronomers mounted an expedition to find traces. The black meteorites were easily found amid the tan sands. The asteroid turned out to be a rare type. Small rocks rain down daily as meteorites. Large ones that can be observed and sampled are very rare indeed.

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka

This is Dudley Observatory's Skywatch line for Friday, June 26, through Sunday, June 28, written by Alan French.

The Moon was new last Monday and will be approaching first quarter over the weekend. It will reach first quarter early Monday morning.

At 10 PM on Friday a fat crescent Moon will be low in the western sky. Saturn will be well to the Moon's upper left. By Saturday the Moon will be fatter, farther south, and somewhat fatter. Saturn will be the the upper right of the Moon. Sunday night the Moon will be close to first quarter, and we'll see almost half of the sunlit face.

The surface of our Earth is constantly changing. Its surface is altered by wind and water, glaciers, volcanoes, the movement of its crustal plates, and even the activity of man. The Moon, however, is essentially unchanged from how it looked three billion years ago. Its surface is a record of the dangerous environment of our early solar system, scarred by craters of all sizes. Even the relatively flat regions are products of the early bombardment. These seas are large impact basins that were filled by flowing lava from the still molten lunar interior.

The eye alone can see quite a bit of detail on the Moon's surface. The relatively flat and crater free seas appear as darker regions, while the lighter lunar highlands are heavily cratered. Even binoculars will reveal more than one hundred craters and mountains on the Moon, and any type of telescope reveals an immense wealth of detail. Although the features are unchanging, their appearance changes markedly as the Sun moves through the Moon's sky and the shadows shorten and lengthen.

The Moon itself is a record of the dangerous times in the early solar system. Comparisons of its composition with that of Earth show that the Moon was formed from debris from a collision between a Mars sized body and the early Earth.

Weather permitting, there will be a star party at the Pine Bush Discovery Center at 195 New Karner Road in Albany beginning at 9 PM on Saturday. Dudley Observatory's Rising Star Interns and other members of the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers will provide telescopes to show guests a variety of celestial showpieces. Featured targets will be the Moon and Saturn. The star party will end at 11 PM.

Guests should register for the star party by calling the Discovery Center at 456-0655. The star party is canceled if the skies are mostly cloudy.

DUDLEY SKYWATCH LINE FOR WED. AND THURS., JUNE 24 AND 25, 2009:
by Ray Bogucki

The Sun has just passed from the winter constellation Taurus, the Bull, into Gemini, the Twins. This means that the spring constellations of Virgo and Leo are moving westward, making room for the summer constellations now gaining altitude in the east. One of the most spectacular of the summer constellations is Scorpius, the Scorpion, which lies along the zodiac and is now rising low in the south-southeast. Scorpius has many bright stars and a shape which actually looks like the object it represents. Facing south-southeast, about 1/3 of the way up from the horizon, look for 3 bright stars in a slightly bent line with magnitudes between 2 and 3, that form the head and claws of the scorpion. The body of the scorpion then passes through a bright orange star named Antares, then bends down toward the horizon in a sinuous line, which abruptly swings back upward in a curve that ends in 2 bright stars close together which form the hanging "sting" of the scorpion. Actually, ancient Chinese astronomers saw the figure as a dragon, while Polynesian fishermen saw the curved tail as a fish hook, which, incidentally, is deeply imbedded in the Milky Way.

There are interesting mythological and historical stories involved with this constellation. In ancient mythology, the mighty hunter Orion boasted that he would slay all the living animals on earth. To prevent this calamitous event, the gods sent the scorpion to sting Orion, and in the poisonous battle that followed, Orion died. To recognize his prowess as a hunter, the gods placed Orion in the sky, and to reward the scorpion for his favor, they also placed him among the stars, but on the opposite side of the sky, so that the two opponents could never meet again.

In real history, the ancient Zodiac contained only eleven constellations. When Julius Caesar established the new Julian calendar with twelve months, Roman astronomers decided to add a twelfth constellation to the Zodiac. It would seem logical simply to assign the constellation Ophiucus, the Serpent Bearer, as the twelfth Zodiac constellation, inasmuch as the Sun, travelling the ecliptic (or Zodiac) spends much more time in Orphiucus than it does in Scorpius. However, the astronomers, for some reason, decided to perform a bit of celestial surgery. The constellation Scorpius originally included two bright stars well to the right, or west, of the scorpion's head which were designated as the scorpion's claws. The astronomers clipped off the claws to make a new constellation that they called Libra the Scales, the only inanimate object in the Zodiac. In next week's Skywatch line we will explore some of the more spectacular sights in Scorpius.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, June twenty-second and twenty-third.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 8:37 and ends with nightfall at 10:55 PM. Dawn breaks at 3 AM and ends with sunrise at 5:18.

After sunset, Saturn remains the solitary planet visible. This is a great time to observe Saturn while other objects gradually become detectable. Saturn sets after midnight.

The Moon turns "New" on Monday, which means it is not observable. Tuesday's sunset finds a very thin crescent Moon ten degrees above the southwestern horizon. Such young moons are a challenge to some astronomers. The bright stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux, appear eight degrees above the Moon, and aid in finding it. The observer must work quickly, because this crescent sets at 9:46 PM.

By Midnight, Jupiter and Neptune appear low in the East. Binoculars or low power telescope show both in the same view. Since Saturn has not yet set, the three gas giant planets are simultaneously visible.

Dawn hosts a string of planets. Jupiter and Neptune are now ideally situated for observation. Uranus, the fourth gas giant planet, glows dimly under the circlet of Pisces. At sixth magnitude, Uranus is visible in dark skies. Binoculars or a low power telescope show it as a blue-green dot.

Mars and Venus rise before dawn begins, but are best seen two hours before sunrise. They are separated by two degrees and fit within the same binocular or telescope vista. The two planets are a study in contrasts. Venus is large; Mars is a third the size. Venus appears about half lit, while Mars is a complete ball. Mercury rises during dawn, but should be high enough to be spotted about an hour before sunrise. Telescopes reveal that Mercury is also about half illuminated. Mercury and Venus display the same phase because their sides are illuminated by the Sun at approximately the same angle.

This past Thursday, NASA took the first step to return to the Moon. An Atlas rocket launched two probes. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will circle the Moon and produce high quality maps. The second unit, named LCROSS, will plow into the lunar surface in October in hopes of finding water ice in permanently shadowed craters.

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka

Dudley Observatory's Skywatch Line for Friday, June 19, through Sunday, June 21, written by Alan French.

The summer solstice marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere at 1:46 AM on Sunday morning. The Sun has reach its furthest point north of the equator and will now begin moving southward again. In the southern hemisphere the Sun is at its lowest and winter is starting.

The Moon will be new on Monday afternoon so the night skies over the weekend will be essentially dark and moonless. A thin crescent old Moon will rise shortly before the Sun and be visible briefly in the morning sky. To spot the Moon, look toward the east northeast at 4:15 AM. On Saturday morning the Moon will be just above and right of the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. Binoculars should show both very nicely in the same field. Also notice the beautiful pairing of Venus and Mars toward the east.

It will be a challenge to find the even older and thinner Moon at 4:15 on Sunday morning. You'll need a very good view to the east northeast, free of clouds and haze. If you can find the Moon, look for a star to its lower right and barely above the horizon. This is the elusive innermost planet Mercury. If you're out Sunday morning, be sure to check out Mars and Venus in the east. They will be at their closest approach and will slowly start moving apart in the coming weeks.

By 10:00 PM the Summer Triangle is visible in the northeastern skies. Vega, the brightest star in Lyra, the Lyre, is highest. The small constellation of Lyra is easy to recognize. To the lower right of Vega you'll find a small parallelogram of four stars, and there is one star to the lower left of Vega.

Considerably farther to the lower left of Vega you'll easily spot another bright star. This is the second member of the Summer Triangle, Deneb, and it marks the tail of Cygnus, the Swan. The swan's body stretches out to the right from Deneb. The star Albireo marks the swan's head. The stars of Cygnus also make up an asterism, or pattern of bright stars, known as the Northern Cross. The short arm of the cross marks the inner half of the swan's wings. Stars farther out mark the tips of the wings.

The lowest star in the Summer Triangle around 10:00 PM is Altair, well to the lower right of Vega and not far above the horizon. Altair is the luminary of Aquila, the Eagle.

During the coming weeks the Summer Triangle will gradually rise higher in the sky. Because of the Earth's motion around the Sun, the stars rise 4 minutes earlier each night. This may not seem like much of a difference, but it amounts to almost a half hour in a week and two hours in a month. When we have a long stretch of cloudy skies, the sky can look considerably different when it finally clears.

Dudley Skywatch line for Wed. and Thurs., June 17 and 18, 2009:
by Ray Bogucki

The major astronomical event this week occurs early Sunday morning, at 1:47 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, when the Sun reaches its northernmost point along the ecliptic, marking the summer solstice.  At our northern latitude, the solstice marks the official beginning of summer with the longest day of the year, containing a little over 15 hours of sunlight.  If we add 4 hours of morning and evening twilight, we are left with a mere five hours of full darkness for nighttime observing.

Solar System objects offer some interesting sights this week.  Saturn, the only bright planet in viewing position in the early evening, is already past the southern meridian at sunset and sets a little after midnight, so begin observing as early as possible in the darkening twilight.  Saturn is still in Leo, now about 16 degrees east of the bright star Regulus in the handle of the Sickle, or backwards question mark, asterism.  As the plane of Saturn's rings and its moons' orbits slowly approach our line of sight, the rings will appear a little thinner each evening.  Also, its larger moons, in particular the giant, Titan, will occasionally cast their shadows on Saturn's surface.  To catch one of these shadow transits in a telescope would be memorable. 

About midnight, Jupiter, shining 27 times brighter than Saturn, puts in an appearance, rising in the east-southeast in the constellation Capricornus.  Jupiter has just begun its backward, or retrograde, motion among the stars as the Earth begins to overtake the gas giant.  We will pass Jupiter in our faster inner orbit about two months from now, when it will stand at opposition and appear at its largest and brightest for this year.

Finally, just as the first glimmer of morning twilight appears, Mars and Venus rise close together in the east, in the constellation Aries the Ram.  While Mars will slowly continue to grow larger and brighter through the rest of the year, it provides no competition for its super brilliant neighbor Venus, which, at magnitude negative 4 is more than a hundred times brighter than Mars. /p>

On Friday morning, there will be a memorable gathering of celestial objects.  If you are outside at 4:30 a.m., about an hour before sunrise, Venus will be well up in the east-northeast with Mars close by, to the upper left of Venus.  They will be joined by the waning crescent Moon, a short way above the pair.  Using binoculars, search to the left of Venus, about twice the Venus-Moon distance.  There, you should find the famous star cluster, the Pleiades, and directly below the Pleiades, close to the horizon, the fifth planet Mercury should just be rising.  At the same time Saturday morning, the Moon will have moved close to the Pleiades, and on Sunday morning, it will be close to Mercury.

Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, June Fifteenth and Sixteenth.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 8:35 PM and ends with nightfall at 10:53. Dawn breaks at 2:59 AM and ends with sunrise at 5:16.

Saturn remains the solitary planet in the darkening sky. Saturn makes a fine observing target while waiting for the skies to reveal its wonders. Telescopic observers with medium to high power eyepieces and a clear western horizon can witness the moon Titan and its shadow cross the face of the giant planet around 11:40 PM on Monday night. Saturn sets about 1 AM.

Jupiter and Neptune rise about the same time as Titan's transit. It is possible to observer Jupiter and Saturn at the same time; the only requirement is access to clear eastern and western horizons. Both Jupiter and Neptune occupy the same low power view and are best observed before daybreak.

The Last Quarter Moon rises about the same time on Monday night; it illuminates the dim constellation Pisces on both nights.

Pre-sunrise hours find a parade of planets in the eastern sky. Jupiter and Neptune are almost due South and highest. Going East, the Moon is next. The planet Uranus lies about six degrees below the Moon; Uranus is identified by its blue-green color, as opposed to white stars near it.

Venus and Mars precede the Moon. Again, both planets share the same binocular view. Venus is far brighter and larger than Mars. While both planets never separate more than five degrees, they shift positions relative to each other as the month progresses.

Mercury is easternmost and lowest. It shines at first magnitude. Mercury is always difficult to find amidst the sunrise glow. About an hour before sunrise, the Pleiades star cluster lies about eight degrees above, making identification easier.

The Albany Area Amateur Astronomers hold their monthly meeting at the Schenectady Museum and Planetarium at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, June 16. The guest speaker is Dr Ted Von Hippel. His topic is: "Debris Disk White Dwarfs and the Fate of Planetary Systems." This refers to a specific type of dwarf star and its implication for planetary systems. All club events are free and open to the public.

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka

Skywatch Line for Friday, June 12, through Sunday, June 14, written by Alan French.

If you are up before sunrise on Saturday morning look for the Moon toward the east southeast. Brilliant Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, will be to the lower right of the Moon and the pair will make a pretty sight. Some astronomers suggest that a giant, Jupiter sized planet, is required for animal live to arise and survive within a solar system. Without Jupiter to purge the inner solar system of leftover chunks of material from the its formation, our Earth would be struck far more often by large objects capable of destroying life.

On any morning over the weekend, you'll find Mars and Venus close together above the eastern horizon around 4:15 AM. Venus now shines one hundred times more brightly than Mars, although our eyes will perceive less of a difference. Venus is brighter because it is larger, closer, and its cloud tops are far more reflective than the surface of Mars.

During the coming days Venus will be sinking lower each morning while Mars is rising higher. By Friday, June 19, Mars will be obviously higher than Venus, and they will be a pretty sight on that morning with an old crescent Moon sitting above them.

Weather permitting, the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers will hold a public star party beginning at 10:00 PM on Saturday, June 13, at Landis Arboretum in Esperance. At star parties club members set up telescopes to show guests a variety of celestial objects, including double stars, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. At 10:15 a brief introductory program will be held in the Meeting House, followed by a short tour of the constellations.

If you are entering Esperance from the east on Route 20 watch for a large green “George Landis Arboretum” sign just after crossing the Schoharie Creek. Turn right at that intersection and follow the signs for about one and a half miles to the Arboretum. When you see the farmhouse on your right and parking area to your left, continue up Lape Road for another 100 yards. Then take a right into the Meeting House field. There will be a reflective “Star Party” sign at this intersection. For directions, use 174 Lape Road, Esperance, as the address, but note that the actual location is a little farther up Lape Road than some software says.

The star party is canceled if the skies are mostly cloudy. Call 374-8460 for more details or to verify that it is being held.

Dudley Skywatch line for Wed. and Thurs., June 10 and 11, 2009:
By Ray Bogucki

Some of the most intriguing telescopic objects in the night sky are the globular star clusters.  These huge spherical (or globular) clusters of stars may contain anywhere from a few tens of thousands up to a million stars.  The clusters extend in size from a few tens of light years in diameter up to more than 200 light years.  They tend to be quite far away in our Milky Way Galaxy, and are very old.  While amateur astronomers find these cosmological aspects of globular clusters to be fascinating, the real excitement comes from studying them in a telescope.  An ordinary 4 to 8 inch backyard telescope will reveal considerable detail. 

To take a short tour of globular clusters, step outside any evening in the next few weeks, at about 10:30 p.m., after the sky has become completely dark. A sky atlas would be a great help.  Facing northwest you will find the familiar stars of the Big Dipper, high up near the zenith.  Following the curve of the handle of the Dipper to the left, (away from the bowl), will bring you to a very bright orange-tinted star named Arcturus.  Looking back from Arcturus toward the dark area under the Dipper's handle, there is only one star which looks reasonably bright, named Cor Caroli.  It forms a right triangle with Arcturus and the end star of the Dipper's handle.  Note that in a telescope, Cor Caroli is a handsome double star.  Just halfway along a line between Arcturus and Cor Caroli, binoculars will pick out a small, bright smudge of light.  A telescope will reveal a bright round patch of light which fades out toward the outside edge.  This is a globular cluster designated as M3.  Careful observation at the outside edges reveal tiny pinpoints of light indicating the resolution of individual stars at the edge of the cluster.  M3 contains about 45,000 stars, extends 220 light years across, and lies halfway across the galaxy at 48,000 light years away.  It is at least 6.5 billion years old, which makes it older than our Solar System.   

Next, look for a brilliant white star, almost as bright as Arcturus, about halfway to the zenith above the eastern horizon. This is the star Vega, in the constellation Lyra, the Lyre.  Just about 40% of the way along a straight line from Vega to Arcturus, binoculars should pick out another, even brighter smudge of light in the constellation Hercules.  This is globular cluster M13, the largest, brightest and most spectacular globular cluster anywhere in the northern skies.  This remarkable object contains a half million stars in a cluster 150 light years across at roughly one half the distance of M3.  A telescope would resolve many individual stars at the edges of the cluster.  This cluster is very ancient, containing some of the oldest stars known.  They date back to shortly after the event known as the Big Bang, which initiated our universe almost 14 billion years ago.   

One can only imagine inhabiting a planet orbiting one of the stars near the center of this dense cluster.  The night sky would be punctuated with hundreds of super bright stars in the near neighborhood.

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, June Eighth and Ninth
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 8:22 PM, with night falling at 10:48. Dawn breaks at 3:02 AM and ends with sunrise at 5:17.

Sunset finds Saturn a solitary evening planet, keeping station beneath the constellation Leo. Saturn's rings, which opened slightly last month, are closing again. The edge-on view hides the rings, but permits observing some of Saturn's 61 moons. Astronomy web sites and magazines provide charts of their positions. Saturn sets about 1:30 AM.

A nearly full Moon spends Monday and Tuesday nights hovering about Sagittarius.

Jupiter and Neptune rise together an hour before Saturn sets. If horizons are clear, it is possible to see two bright giant planets at opposite ends of the sky. Between 1 AM and 3:16 AM, Tuesday morning, telescopic observers with moderate to high powers can witness two Galilean Moons cast their shadows on Jupiter's cloud tops. Neptune shares the same low power field with Jupiter - ten thousand times brighter.

The hours before sunrise sees all the planets in the Solar System, with the exception of Saturn, rise. Mercury, the last to rise, may be difficult, but becomes easier as the month progresses.

The dim constellation Virgo lies below Leo's tail. Its brightest star, Spica, is not bothered by the lunar glare. Virgo and Spica are ancient, known to all early civilizations, and studied for millennia. It is almost exactly first magnitude and one of the closest to Earth. In 1890, examination of Spica's light revealed an unseen companion. However, a little known space probe has changed our view of Spica. MOST, a satellite that studies variable stars, revealed that Spica is an eclipsing binary. In other words, two stars - one large and one smaller - eclipse each other every four days. The dimming is very slight. The brighter star itself varies. They are so close that they are egg-shaped, not oval. These discoveries reveal the main star's diameter and set an upper limit on its size. At 260 light years away, Spica is an example of a star likely to go supernova - blow itself up - in the not-too distant future.

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka

This is Dudley Observatory's Skywatch Line for Friday, June 5, through Sunday, June 7
written by Alan French.

The Moon will be full early Sunday afternoon, so bright moonlight will dominate the night sky over the weekend. Full moons near the summer solstice travel low across the sky, while full moons near the winter solstice travel high across the sky.

The full Moon of June is the Strawberry Moon. The Algonquins knew this as a time to gather ripening strawberries. The Algonquins are the original natives of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, Canada.

In its path among the stars to Moon sometimes passes in front of, or occults, stars. Occultations of faint stars are fairly common, but bright stars do not often pass behind the Moon. Late Saturday evening the Moon will occult Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius, the Scorpion. The nearly full Moon will make Antares difficult to see with the eye alone when it is close to the Moon. Any optical aid, from binoculars to a small spotting scope or astronomical telescope, should make it possible to watch Antares vanish behind the Moon's limb. If possible, binoculars, like telescopes, should be mounted on a tripod.

Because the Moon has no atmosphere and stars are extremely far away and essentially points of light, they usually wink out suddenly when occulted. Antares, however, is a supergiant star, and it may be possible to see it fade for a second or so before it vanishes. It is not just its size that makes this a possibility, but the fact that our area is near the graze path. This deserves some explanation.

Because the Moon is close to Earth in comparison to the stars, its position among the stars moves as we change our location. Along a line extending roughly through Worcester, Massachusetts, and continuing northwestward to pass near Glens Falls, the Moon's edge will just graze Antares. People along the graze line may see Antares disappear and reappear several times as it vanishes behind mountain peaks and crater walls, and emerges in valleys and low spots along the edge of the Moon.

To the southwest of the graze line – which includes Albany and Schenectady and surrounding areas – observers will see a short occultation as a small portion of the northern limb of the Moon will pass in front of Antares (the Moon's northern limb will be to our upper left). Because of the steep angle made by Antares as the Moon's edge approaches it, which slows the disappearance, we have a chance to actually see supergiant Antares dim briefly before it vanishes. From Albany, Antares will vanish behind the Moon at 11:03 PM. It will vanish behind the small portion of dark lunar limb remaining. If you can not see the Moon's dark limb in your telescope, Antares will wink out of sight before it reaches the bright portion of luna. Antares will reappear from behind the bright limb of the Moon just over 16 minutes later.

Those living northeast of Albany will see the disappearance seconds to tens of seconds later and will have a shorter occultation. To the southwest of Albany Antares will vanish seconds to minutes earlier, depending on your distance from the city.

People to the northeast of the graze line will not see an occulation. The Moon will pass very close to Antares but just miss passing in front of the star. For a map showing the graze line visit http://www.curtrenz.com/1024o.html

If you rise just before dawn on Sunday you will find the Moon low in the southwest with Antares just to the Moon's lower right. By Sunday evening the Moon will be well east of Antares.

Dudley Skywatch line for Wed. and Thurs., June 3 and 4, 2009:
by Ray Bogucki

This is the Skywatch Line for Monday and Tuesday, June First and Second.
by Joe Slomka

The Sun sets at 8:28 PM and ends with nightfall at 10:39. Dawn breaks at 3:07 AM, ending with sunrise at 5:19.

The darkening sky reveals two bright objects, the Moon and Saturn. The gibbous Moon, seventy percent illuminated, is visible in daytime. Ordinary binoculars permit views of the Moon's surface without the glare that bothers nighttime observers. Monday night finds our Moon beneath the star Denebola, Leo's tail. Tuesday night finds it next to Spica, the brightest star in Virgo.

Saturn also is found beneath Leo, but above and to the Moon's right. Saturn becomes visible midway between sunset and nightfall. Saturn's off-white color makes identification easy. A telescope reveals its rings, which are slightly open. High powers permit views of the ring shadow on Saturn's cloud tops. Saturn and the Moon set about 2 AM. Jupiter rises before 1 AM, so it is possible to see Jupiter low in the East, while Saturn is low in the West - two gas giants at opposite ends of the horizon. Jupiter is famous for its four Galilean satellites. After 2 AM Tuesday morning, they put on a show for the telescope observer. First, the moons Ganymede and IO project their shadows onto the Jovian cloud tops. Shortly after, the moon Ganymede occults, or eclipses, its fellow Io. These events can be seen with high power eyepieces in your telescope.

Much dimmer Neptune rises next to Jupiter and can be found within the same telescope finder field.

Venus and Mars rise two hours before sunrise and are ideally situated for observation within an hour. Venus is the brightest object in the dawn sky. If you have been observing it for the past month, you will have found it to dim slightly and also become smaller. This is a result of Venus pulling away from Earth on its faster inside track. Mars stays within five degrees of Venus all month, but switches positions. Early risers may find it interesting to track the Red Planet this month.

Clear Skies
Joe Slomka