What's in the Sky Tonight (3/28/12)?

What's in the Sky Tonight (3/28/12)?

What's in the sky tonight?  Well, if it's cloudy then it's clouds.  But if it's clear, what's up there is a real treat whether you live in the country or in a more urban environment.  No fewer than four of the five planets visible to the naked eye, along with the crescent moon, are up there putting on a show.  If that's not enough, the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, and one of the most prominent and recognizable constellations, Orion provide additional sky candy.  If the sky is not clear, the directions below will be good for the next few days with the exception that the moon will continue to wax (that means grow) to become a half moon, then gibbous (fat), then full, etc.

So, although it depends on your exact location, go outside about 7:30 PM or just after sunset and get yourself oriented.  First, you need to know approximately where north, south, east, and west are in your environs.  Where the sun has set is obviously west (note that position of setting along the horizon) and from there you can figure out the rest.  Face south (in the Northern Hemisphere), look up to find the moon.  From the moon follow a line (let's call that line the "ecliptic") toward where the sun has set and you will encounter a bright "star" which is the planet Venus, named for the Goddess of Love.  If the sky is too bright to easily see Venus, note the sun's setting position and plan to come back out in about 30 minutes.  If you do that, again follow the ecliptic from the moon toward the setting sun position until you find Venus.  Follow the ecliptic further toward the setting sun position (about 10 moon diameters on 3/28) and you will find Jupiter.  Through a telescope you may still be able to see the moons of Jupiter, but it is becoming more difficult to do so as Jupiter each day moves toward the sun.  If you go back to the moon and continue east along the ecliptic you will find Mars, bright, reddish, and nearly at its brightest for the next two years.  Finally, if you come back out after 9:00 or so, Saturn will appear along the ecliptic further to the east.  Saturn is almost at its brightest , but is less remarkable than Venus or Mars.  But, through a telescope, there's those rings ......

The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, the dog star, easily found by going back to the moon and moving your gaze further south.  Sirius is in the constellation, Canis Major (of course), it's doggy outline easily traced.  A photo of the constellation taken last year in my back yard is shown below. Just to the right of Sirius is Orion, the hunter, with his well defined large quadrangle of stars outlining the constellation.  The hunter proudly displays his belt.  The bright red star in the upper left of the quadrangle is Betelgeuse (pronounced "beetle juice") and the bright blue one at the lower right is Rigel.

That's enough for now, but I will follow up with some explanatory details of this night's planetary observations in the next post.

Chemistry Joke

A sodium atom and a cesium atom were walking down the street when the sodium atom let out a scream.

Cesiun:  "What's wrong?"

Sodium: "I've lost an electron!!"

Cesium: "Are you sure?"

Sodium: "I'm positive!!"