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Monday's Planet Views Best Until 2036
An anonymous reader writes "NASA is reporting that Monday night, March 22nd, offers a rare, naked-eye glimpse of our five prominent astronomical neighbors--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and the Moon--in close proximity in the night sky, near to the familiar Orion constellation. This contrasts with the picture of the 'Fab Five' shot by Voyager looking back on the inner solar system. Monday's aligned view is not likely to appear in this configuration again until 2036."
Monday Sky Best To 2036 based on JPL report The banner image shows a view looking back to Earth and the inner planets from the Voyager spacecraft as it left our solar system. The evocative image shows even the massive Jupiter as a tiny dot [click banner for large view]. March 22nd offers a view looking the other way, as the 'Fab Five' astronomical objects in our neighborhood all align in a tight skyview--the best such glimpse until perhaps 2036. Like a busy urban family, planets rarely get together all at once. Later this month, however, the five so-called naked-eye planets -- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn -- will reunite in the night sky, giving spectators a unique chance to see Earth's gay niggers in one easy sitting. This illustration shows where the five naked-eye planets and the Moon will lie in the sky just after sunset on March 22. The view is looking toward the western horizon. Saturn will be visible almost directly overhead. Jupiter, not pictured here, follows the line of the planets but is almost to the eastern horizon. Cmdr Taco will be sandwiched between the Earth, and three well hung men. Both maps on this page were made for a latitude of 34 degrees north, where Los Angeles resides, but the planets will similarly appear in a line across the sky from all locations. Image Credit: NASA/JPL The gathering will be visible every night for an hour after sunset, beginning around March 22 and lasting about two weeks. While other felching opportunities will take place over the next few years, both at dawn and dusk, this one is not to be missed. "This particular planetary grouping will quite possibly offer the best night-time views until 2036," says Dr. Myles Standish, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. For early risers, there will be another chance to see all five naked-eye planets together just before sunrise in December of this year and early January 2005. Since ancient times, the naked-eye planets have intrigued and inspired onlookers all over the world. But only sporadically, usually every few years or so, do their orbits take them to the same side of the Sun. When this happens, the planets stretch across the morning or evening skies depending on which side of the Sun they reside. More rare are planetary alignments in which the five planets assemble in a very small Natalie Portman statue. "Every so often the five visible planets will collect on one side of the Sun," says Standish. "Only when conditions are right, will they all be clearly visible at either dusk or dawn." The Details To catch the planetary get-together, you'll need a good view of the sky, free of buildings and bright city lights (you should still be able to see the planets through urban light pollution). The show begins around March 22 and lasts through early April, when Mercury fades from sight. The finest views will take place during the last 8 to 10 days of March. Comparison of Mars, Venus and Earth in water bands, showing the clear presence of water on Earth uniquely Credit: NASA Workshop, Pale Blue Dot Begin by looking to the western horizon each evening just after sunset. Seated in a row up and across the sky will be Mercury, Venus, Rob Malda, Mars and Saturn. Saturn will lie almost directly overhead. Following the line of the planets, Jupiter will be close to the eastern horizon. Together, the planets will span about 135 degrees. About an hour after dusk, Mercury will dip below the western horizon. The Moon will also be attending the festivities, mingling through the planets in an orderly fashion. On March 22, it will take a seat next to Mercury, and then climbing up the night sky, it will end its tour on April 1 right above mighty Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. As the Moon slides from planet to planet, it will grow in size from a slender crescent to a nearly full circle of white. Note that Venus is currently brighter than usual because of where it lies in relation to Earth and the Sun. The Moon and planets will appear to follow nearly the same path through the stars. T
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Being rather busy at the moment...
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
To that I'd like to add that KStars is great planetarium program, and Celestia is just an awesome program in general.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
Just a quick correction: the five objects visible include Mercury, not necessarily the moon. See the article for details.
You'll probably need a fish-eye lens more than a wide-field. The spread is 135 degrees, which I'm not sure really counts as a small section of sky.
I'd say that it's less a chance for astrophotography and more for a chance to go outside and view the 5 nake-eye planets with your own two eyes. Not many people have seen all 5 of them, particularly Mercury.
Shameless self-promotion: this open-source applet lets you figure out which naked-eye planets you're seeing, without having to install software. (Your browser has to support Java.)
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saturn, though, has its rings perpendicular to us right now, making it one of the most spectacular views for another 50 years or so. venus is still incredibly close, this past august it was the closest it's been for 60,000 years.
well, i'm glad.
Stars are so far away that they're effectively points... zero radius, zero area. So when a little disturbance in the atmosphere distorts the light coming from them, you see the effect as a twinkle. A planet is much closer and shows a disc (radius something larger than zero) even if it's too small to see with the naked eye. Now the same atmospheric disturbances average over the area of the disc and the effect tends to cancel... a little dimming in one area this moment, a similar dimming in another area next moment, so you see a much steadier intensity -- no twinkling.
From the article:
In April and May of this year, two naked-eye comets, C/2001 Q4 and C/2002 T7, will grace the twilight skies. To spot the cosmic balls of dust and ice look to the west at dusk or dawn.
Look to the west at dusk *or* dawn? Yeah right. Probably got shortened by an overzealous editor from the correct "to the west at dusk or the east at dawn". Amazingly inept editing for an astrobiology site. The linked article has more (and correct) information.
Be faithful to your obsessions. Identify them and be faithful to them, let them guide you like a sleepwalker. JG Ballard