ANY NIGHT THIS WEEK !! LOOK NO User ID: 877408 Mexico 06/03/2010 04:28 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! Planet Triple Play: Saturn, Mars and Venus Appear Together Geoff Gaherty Starry Night Education SPACE.com geoff Gaherty starry Night Education space.com Thu Jun 3, 9:45 am ET If you live in the northern hemisphere, go out any night this week an hour or so after sunset and look at the western sky to catch a planetary triple play starring Venus, Saturn and Mars.
The first thing skywatchers will see — weather permitting — is the brilliant planet Venus, slightly north of west, in the constellation Gemini. Look for Gemini's twin first magnitude stars, Pollux and Castor, just above Venus.
As the sky gets darker, the planet Mars can be spotted to Venus' left as it appears in the constellation Leo very close to the bright, first magnitude star Regulus. Further still to the left will be Saturn shining in the western part of the constellation Virgo.
This sky map shows how to spot all three planets as they appear across a 71-degree angle in the night sky. For comparison, your closed fist held at arm's length covers about 5 degrees of arc in the sky.
Venus, Mars and Saturn are all currently appearing slightly north of the ecliptic, the path the sun appears to follow over the year, shown in green in the sky map. [More Mars photos.]
Note the positions of these three planets in relation to the bright background stars, because they are beginning an interesting journey which you will be able to follow over the next two months.
In early July, Venus will have moved rapidly to the left, crossing Cancer into Leo so that now it is next to the star Regulus. Mars, meanwhile, will have moved somewhat to the left. Saturn appears to have hardly moved at all.
By then, the three planets will now cover only 37 degrees in the sky, only half the spread they showed in early June.
A month after this, in the first week of August, the planets will be crowded into a 7-degree angle, and Mars will now be to the left of Saturn in Virgo. Venus, too, will have moved into Virgo.
All three will fit comfortably in the viewing field of a small pair of binoculars.
By August, Venus will still be brilliant, but both Saturn and Mars will have faded so that they just barely reach first magnitude. That's because Saturn and Mars are getting farther away from Earth, while Venus is getting closer.
From the southern hemisphere, the planets will appear in the same positions relative to each other, but the ecliptic will be almost vertical, and the planets arrayed one above the other, rather than forming an oblique angle with the horizon.
This will be a fine opportunity to observe the relative motion of three bright planets against a well marked background of stars, and to see the very different speeds at which they move: Venus traversing four constellations and Mars two, with Saturn hardly moving at all. |
attention_whore_fu User ID: 991487 Sweden 06/03/2010 04:30 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 983512 Canada 06/03/2010 04:30 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! How the hell is this bad news? |
Tazzz
User ID: 849986 United States 06/03/2010 04:31 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! How the hell is this bad news?
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 983512I was trying to figure that out too... I suppose because it means we are getting close to the alignment ? |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 877408 Mexico 06/03/2010 04:32 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! How the hell is this bad news?
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 983512OMG !! You just killed our teen doom sprit !! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 978129 United Kingdom 06/03/2010 04:32 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! a 3 ball plant is on then! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 843214 United States 06/03/2010 04:36 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! what is the significance of venus, mars and saturn aligning?
Anyone know astrology here? |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 989127 United States 06/03/2010 04:45 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! From an ancient standpoint it means Satan, War, and the Whore. But that is all I'll say about it. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 863844 Canada 06/03/2010 04:58 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: MORE BAD NEWS !! PLANET TRIPLE PLAY : SATURN , MARS AND VENUS APPEAR TOGETHER !!! what is the significance of venus, mars and saturn aligning?
Anyone know astrology here?
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 843214Isn't this what New Agers call Harmonic Convergence?? The last time I heard about a major planetary alignment like that it was called that. It was in 1987. There was a big stock market crash that year. |