Posts Tagged ‘Mercury’

The Sky This Month – March 2010

Monday, March 1st, 2010

We’re premiering a new feature, The Sky This Month, here and on AFM*Radio!  In addition to our occasional daily report, The Sky Tonight, we’ll also be posting a monthly highlights report, here, and featuring the audio version each month, throughout the month, on AFM*Radio.

Don’t just talk about the stars – Go outside and look at them!

The month of March includes four bright planets, five moon & planet conjunctions, and a whole collection of open star clusters!

Beginning with the planets … Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Saturn are all visible this month!  Two of them grace the evening sky, while the other two pair together at sunset.

Starting with the sunset horizon, you’ll find our brightest planet, Venus, basking in the glow of the setting sun early in the month, and lingering for 30mins to an hour after dark by month’s end.  You can’t miss Venus, shining like a beacon on the west horizon – so bright it’s often mistaken for aircraft and even occasionally reported as a UFO.

Mercury joins the sunset horizon around the 20th.  Like Venus earlier in the month, Mercury starts out on the heels of the setting sun, but inches higher, and closer to Venus, through month’s end.

Once the sun sets, turn to your east horizon where you’ll find Mars as that bright red “star” in Cancer, just beneath the twins of Gemini – or east of Orion, if you’re more familiar with that constellation.  A closer look – with binoculars is best – will reveal the Beehive star cluster nearby.  Keep an eye on this pair through the month – by mid-April (next month,) Mars will appear to slip right past the cluster.

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Venus/Saturn Conjunction!

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

12VenusSaturnMercuryTomorrow’s sunrise sky offers a special treat for early risers.  Not only will four bright planets be visible, two of those planets will appear less than 1/2 degree from each other, and another will be less than 3 degrees from the waning crescent Moon.

Just before sunrise, watch for Venus and Saturn to rise as a pair on your East horizon, with Mercury rising very close behind.  Looking straight overhead, you’ll find ruddy Mars with a 38% illuminated Moon.  That bright star to the pair’s right is Canis Minor’s brightest star, Procyon; while the night sky’s brightest star, Sirius, is positioned just a little further right, or towards your West horizon.  Dropping straight down from Sirius, to your South horizon, you’ll find the 2nd brightest star in the night sky, constellation Carina’s Canopus.

Mercury with Pleiades

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Last night’s sunset viewing was gorgeous.  A few thin clouds drifted through and ground-level moisture kept me busy drying dew, but the sky was beautiful and the stars were bright.

Although I had more success through the binoculars than the camera lens, I did manage a couple of okay images of the crescent moon and Pleaides with Mercury, as well as a just-for-fun image of a passing jet. (You can click the first image for full-sized version, and then click next at the top-right corner of the image to scroll through to the other two images. Click the x in the bottom-right corner to close the images.)

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