SUNSET PLANETS [Mercury and much brighter Venus now visible in west just after sunset]

Spaceweather.com ^ | March 31, 2010

[ETL]

SUNSET PLANETS: The Solar System's innermost planets are about to put on a beautiful show. This week, Mercury is emerging from the glare of the sun and making a beeline for Venus. By week's end the two planets will be just 3o apart, a bright and eye-catching pair. Keep an eye on the sunset!

[ETL]

Note: Venus will be the much brighter of the two and appear totally white in color. Mercury will just look like a pink or orange colored average star to the right of Venus. Mercury is currently about 93 million miles from Earth, or about the same distance as the Sun (at this time). Venus is now approximately 150 million away from Earth. Venus is often mistaken for the headlight of an approaching airplane or even a 'UFO'.

Mars at this time, around sunset, is high in the sky, almost directly overhead from my New York City latitude. Of course its position in the sky depends on your own particular latitude. It appears as a fairly bright yellowish or orange 'star'. Saturn is currently rising around 6:20PM and should be high enough in the east-northeast sky by sunset to be seen from lots of locations. It is nowhere near as bright as Venus and can be easily taken for a star, except that it's light is more steady. It is basically alone in the east-northeast sky just after sunset at this time. The really bright orange star north of it is the red giant star Arcturus. -ETL

[George from New England]

Thank you for posting this. Astronomy is great and I love to watch moon rises out my window from my Florida place. I have an Easterly view as good as at the ocean and can see right at 0 degrees elevation.

[ETL]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/89275667.html

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http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/89279827.html

[ETL]

You’re welcome. Venus and Mercury tonight and in the week ahead will be fairly easy to see from many locations. Mars is easy also but it’s more difficult to describe its location. Same with Saturn rising in the east-northeast. Mars is currently brighter than Saturn and somewhat orange in color. Saturn appears more white if not slightly yellow.

[rjsimmon]

I have been waiting through Virginia's long, harsh winter before taking my SCT out for a good seeing. Hopefully soon...

Clear Skies!

[ETL]

Now that I think about it, Saturn may actually be closer to due east after sunset (as opposed to east-northeast). In any case, the only other bright object above the eastern horizon at that time is the bright orange star Arcturus a fair distance to the north of Saturn.

[cripplecreek]

9 pm eastern.

[ETL]

Thanks. That’s great. Has all 4 naked eye visible planets on it!

[ETL]

Where did you get that sky map from? A website or personal program?

[cripplecreek]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ has that great interactive viewer that can go years into the future if you want.

[cripplecreek]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ interactive viewer.

[Conan the Librarian]

Looks like the Interactive Sky Chart from skyandtelescope.com.

Interested persons might like to download Cartes du Ciel. A wonderful free planetarium program. Drop me a note if you are interested.

I hope to get some photos or video of the encounter myself.

[ETL]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ has that great interactive viewer that can go years into the future if you want.

Thanks. I never knew that. I've been using the one heavens-above.com has. But S&T's is better I think. It even shows the perceived color of the planet. Notice that Mars and Mercury are somewhat orange in color. Mars is orange simply because it is 'rusty'. Its surface rock consists of iron-bearing basalt which has been oxidized by the thin Martian atmosphere. Mercury, however, appears orange or pink to us because it's always low on the horizon and we're looking through a thicker column of air as we look out more or less along the surface and out into space. The atmosphere reddens objects.

[ETL]

Yes, I would like the link. Thanks.

And good luck photographing the conjunction! Keep in mind, the pair will be even closer in a few days.

“By week’s end the two planets [Venus and Mercury] will be just 3 degrees apart, a bright and eye-catching pair.”

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=31&month=03&year=2010

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[ETL]

Here is a direct link to the Sky and Telescope interactive sky map. However, you need to first register with the site in order to access it. There is no charge for registering.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/s?action=login

[Conan the Librarian]

Enjoy this view of the Moon and the Pleiades from the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Q4RdU_Tik

[ETL]

Yes, we saw it using binoculars. A beautiful sight! I’ll check out the video. Thanks.

[ETL]

Here's a screen shot I did from the YouTube video:

[ETL]

Here's a photo that I think was posted on SpaceWeather.com a couple of weeks ago: