Four of the five most-visible planets are bunched together in the morning sky, creating beautiful patterns along the eastern horizon at dawn for the next few weeks. Each day the four planets change slightly in position, with bright Venus guiding your eyes to the right spot on the horizon where you can see these four points of light. Use binoculars to find all four planets - Mercury and Mars are much fainter than Jupiter and Venus - and use this amazing animation on the Sky & Telescope website to find the exact pattern as it changes each day. In San Francisco, you will want to look for this between 5:00 and 5:30 am, before the glare of the sunrise washes out the view of the planets. 06 May 2011
Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury in Conjunction
Four of the five most-visible planets are bunched together in the morning sky, creating beautiful patterns along the eastern horizon at dawn for the next few weeks. Each day the four planets change slightly in position, with bright Venus guiding your eyes to the right spot on the horizon where you can see these four points of light. Use binoculars to find all four planets - Mercury and Mars are much fainter than Jupiter and Venus - and use this amazing animation on the Sky & Telescope website to find the exact pattern as it changes each day. In San Francisco, you will want to look for this between 5:00 and 5:30 am, before the glare of the sunrise washes out the view of the planets. 
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Can this be seen from Europe and are the times relevant to us, ie. 45 mins before sunrise in the east?
hi Denise - yes, this can be seen from Spain in just the same way you can see this in North America. The time should be nearly identical, as you are at the same latitude as most of the US. Good luck seeing this!
-- Paul
It was spectacular and magical when we say it on 12 May on our holiday trip Home from holiday trip | Hayes & Greene family history
Post a Comment