According to my Astronomy Calendar (by Terence Dickinson) , Venus and Saturn will be within one degree of each other tonight and for the next three nights. That's the evenings of June 29, June 30, July 1, and July 2. Venus will be looking like a bright "evening star" low in the Western sky at sunset (though viewing it while the sky is still bright will reveal it as a planet in a crescent phase!) and Saturn will be the dimmer "star" next to it.
If nothing else, this will be a good lesson in what "one degree" looks like in the sky. Plus it should be darned pretty!
UPDATE, 7/1/2007: I didn't get to see this Friday night, but I did get to see it last night. As a bonus, I was in a part of Southern Pennsylvania where the horizon is a bit lower, so I got an extended opportunity to see Saturn hanging directly above Venus. At one point around 10:40 the car I was riding in was headed due West along a straightaway with a fairly clear horizon, and it was truly amazing to have Venus and Saturn dangling directly above the road's vanishing point like a big indicator light pointing our way. (As our overall course was North-by-Northeast, we only had this view for a little while.) I wonder how many UFO reports came in last night from people chasing a pair of lights into the West? "They're flying in formation, a dim one above a bright one...no matter how fast I go they're always staying ahead of me! I'll stick with them as long as I can...tell my wife I love her..."
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Daryl Sznyter
5 years ago
1 comment:
well, it's damn cloudy down here tonight, so hopefully I'll get a better view later.
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