A Must See: Four Planets and the Moon

This week the sky features four of the brightest planets in a beautiful lineup in the sunset sky. The illustration on the left, borrowed from Sky & Telescope Magazine, demonstrates how the planets all align themselves in a path across the sky known as the Ecliptic. This line in the sky, actually a gentle curve from west to east across the south part of the sky, is the plane of the Solar System as viewed from our observing platform on Earth. We see fast-moving Mercury close to the Sun, then Venus, Mars and Saturn, a most impressive line-up.

To set this into perspective, the young Moon emerges from the glare of the Sun on Tuesday 13th, moving somewhat parallel to the Ecliptic but each day a bit farther south of the Ecliptic. This is because the orbit of the Moon around the Earth is slightly inclined to the rest of the bodies in the Solar System. And as we just had a Total Solar Eclipse on Sunday, the Moon is following a path away from the Ecliptic into what is called the "descending node" south of the Ecliptic.

I will be talking about this at the California Academy of Sciences at their Nightlife event this Thursday in Golden Gate Park. If you are in or near San Francisco, please join me on the roof for Star Tours!

Total Solar Eclipse 2010

One of the most dramatic spectacles of nature takes place Sunday July 11th, as the New Moon passes in front of the Sun and creates a Total Solar Eclipse over the South Pacific Ocean. This eclipse will be especially unique for those who travel to Easter Island to see it. As the shadow of the Moon sweeps across the ocean at speeds of up to 1000 miles per hour, the darkness will pass directly across Easter Island and the famous Moai, the large stone statues that are nearly 1000 years old.

I have experienced Total Solar Eclipses in the past and they are remarkable, not only for the brilliant image you see in the sky, but also for the dramatic changes in the environment you experience as the sky slowly darkens, the horizon changes color, the animals begin to react strangely, and the fellow eclipse-chasers react with great anticipation. Although I will not travel to this one, I plan to travel to one of the upcoming eclipses in the next few years.

For those in the US who don't want to travel far, your next chance to experience at Total Solar Eclipse will be 2017.

Star-and-Planet Drama

The evening sky over the next few weeks offers a study in the changes that take place in the sky along the path of the Moon and the path of the planets. This is exciting to watch and helps to unveil some of the intricacies of the Solar System, something you can see right from your own backyard. For quite a while now I have been particularly fond of sharing the path of the planets across the sky (the "Ecliptic") while conducting star parties and giving astronomy talks. I find that the ability to visualize this band across the sky is an important one for those who wish to have a basic understanding of the motion of the planets across the sky. And for several months the bright planets, a collection of bright stars, and the monthly sweep of the Moon across the sky have provided a perfect laboratory for learning. This month is no exception.

Shortly after sunset there is an excellent parade of planets and stars easily visible as the glare of dusk fades, starting with brilliant Venus in the west, and then in succession from west to south are Regulus, Mars, Saturn and Spica. These bright objects show the line of the Ecliptic.

At the end of this week there is a total solar eclipse (unfortunately not visible

from the San Francisco Bay Area). The eclipse comes at the middle of an Eclipse Season and as such, the Moon follows a descending path below the Ecliptic in the days that follow the eclipse, in particular from the 12th to the 17th of July. As it moves from day to day, it swoops just below the Ecliptic and makes a pleasant arc across the southern sky below Venus and Regulus, then Mars, then Saturn and then Spica.

And in addition, we are just coming into a period of time when fast-moving Venus has close encounters with the other planets and stars along the Ecliptic, starting with a close encounter of Regulus on the 9th of July. More drama to come in the next few weeks -- stay tuned!

The Path That Leads to the Earth's Shadow

We are in an "Eclipse Season," a five week period of time when the Moon's orbit around the Earth is aligned in a way that the Full or New Moon crosses the path of the Earth around the Sun. When that happens, we experience a Lunar or Solar Eclipse and right now we have one of each coming up: a partial Lunar Eclipse on Saturday 26th, and a total Solar Eclipse on July 11th. The Solar Eclipse will not be visible from North America so we don't get a chance to experience that, but the Lunar Eclipse will be. More on that next week.
During an Eclipse Season, the Moon's position in the sky is special, as it is moving just above or just below the plane of the planets (the "Ecliptic") in the interval from New Moon to Full Moon. A few days ago as the Moon emerged from the evening glare waxing each evening, you could see it move just below Venus, then below Regulus and Mars, and now it is below Saturn and Spica, all objects on or near the Ecliptic. As it nears Full Moon and the Lunar Eclipse on the 26th, it is moving closer and closer to the Ecliptic and will intersect the Earth's shadow on the 26th.
I like to imagine that there is a dark spot in the sky where the Earth's shadow projects out into space. Every month as the Moon nears Full, it sweeps close to that spot. But only during an Eclipse Season -- every six or twelve months -- does it slip into the shadow of the Earth and display to all of us the curved shadow of the Earth. That is something to look forward to next weekend.

Heavenly Line-Up

Over the past months the evening sky has been graced by a number of bright stars and planetary configurations. As summer approaches and these stars and planets move westward toward the sunset day after day, heavenly line-ups are emerging that are beautiful to see and are dynamic in nature, changing dramatically from one day to the next.

This evening the planet Venus moves into a very impressive alignment with the two “twin” stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux. Although Venus is considerably brighter than the two stars, the pattern of the three celestial objects will be distinct, emerging from the sunset glow with Venus as the guide star and Castor and Pollux shining a short while later.

On the 13^th and 14^th, the trio is joined by the young crescent Moon. The combination of these heavenly bodies in the twilight should be an impressive sight indeed.

KFOG Podcast - June 4, 2010

Today I spent a few minutes talking with Irish Greg of the KFOG Morning Show for their podcast series. Greg is one of those people with boundless enthusiasm and an insatiable appetite for discussion about any topic, so when we talk astronomy it's always a good time. Today's conversation ranged from the Summer Solstice to the upcoming lineup of Mars and Venus and some bright stars, to the June 26th Lunar Eclipse and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Click here to listen.

High in the sky: The Big Dipper

The Big Dipper is one of the easiest groupings of stars in the sky to identify, and it serves as a guide to some of the more interesting stars in other parts of the sky. Late Spring evenings it is nearly overhead as seen from San Francisco, and its distinctive pattern provides an interesting exercise for understanding the motions of objects in the heavens.

The Big Dipper is not a constellation, by strict definition, because it is only the brightest 7 stars of the larger constellation Ursa Major. A named combination of stars within a constellation such as the Big Dipper is known as an "asterism." Because of its distinctive shape, the Big Dipper is a very well known asterism, one of several celestial groupings that lives up to its name (I put Leo, Scorpius, Cygnus and a few other constellations in this special class).

The Big Dipper points to the North Star (Polaris) if you follow the two stars at the side of the bowl of the dipper. This Wikipedia article illustrates this nicely. The line along the pointers from the Big Dipper to Polaris is helpful because this line is similar to an hour hand on a 24-hour clock. Every 24 hours the Big Dipper makes one counter-clockwise rotation around Polaris. From latitude 38 degrees north (approximately the latitude here in San Francisco) the Big Dipper is high in the sky when it is above Polaris (as it is now at sunset) and low in the sky when it is rotated half way around Polaris just above the horizon (as it will be in late Fall evenings).

The three stars in the handle of the Big Dipper form a curve, and if you think of this curve as an arc, you can follow it to a very bright star called Arcturus (in the constellation Bootes), and by continuing along this arc you end up at another bright star called Spica (in the constellation Virgo).

One more fun thing to find in the Big Dipper is the middle star of the handle, known as Mizar. This star has a very close companion, Alcor, next to it and if you want to test your eyesight, see if you can split the two without using binoculars or a telescope.

Enjoy learning about the Big Dipper in the pleasant weather of May and June. It's full of surprises and one of my favorite stops when sharing the sky with friends and guests at star parties.

Planets and Bright Stars along the Ecliptic

This is a great time of year to enjoy the view of bright stars and planets demarcating the ecliptic. I am hosting a lot of star parties these days (last week in Tomales, this week in Fremont, next week in Healdsburg and the week after in San Mateo) and I always love to point out the ecliptic, the band across the sky where the planets and Moon are found in their wanderings across the heavens.

The ecliptic is the plane of the Solar System, the imaginary line across the sky that marks the orbits of the planets and the Moon. In a planetarium this can easily be shown, but under the heavens it is daunting to visualize this. I use a laser pointer to show the path across the sky, and that helps to visualize this, but right now the skies are cooperating to make this a bit easier for those of you without an amateur astronomer and a laser pointer :-)

Face South about 30-45 minutes after sunset and you will be looking toward the ecliptic. It stretches from the point of sunset to your right (West) where bright Venus gives you one reference point, then stretches up and toward the south to Castor and Pollux, the two twin stars of the zodiac constellation Gemini. Just to the upper left of the pair is bright orange Mars, and continuing left you encounter blue-white Regulus, the brightest star in the zodiac constellation Leo. Now the line of the ecliptic moves down toward the East, that is, down and to the left as you face South. Lower left of Leo is the planet Saturn, a bright, milky-white dot of light. And continuing to the lower left of Saturn is the bright star Spica, in the zodiac constellation Virgo.

Enjoy the tour, and if you have a star chart, put it to work so you can use these bright points of light to help you learn a few constellations. Even in the big city, all of these are visible.

The image on this page was copied from Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes. Go to his site at www.astronomynotes.com for the updated and corrected version.