This weekend is forecast to be a snowy one in Chicago, but the next time there is a clear evening, look for brilliant Venus dominating the southwestern sky at twilight and through the early evening. Once you find Venus, look diagonally above and to the left until you find Mars; it is much fainter than… Read More Venus Chases Mars
Venus is prominent in the evening twilight. Look for it in the southwest after sunset. Venus will be visible in the evening all winter. Before we came to understand that Venus is a planet, it was called the “Evening Star” because it only appeared in the evening and then would disappear for months. There was also… Read More Venus’s Starring Role
Skywatching: January 29-February 1 All the naked-eye planets are visible in the morning sky before sunrise. You have probably heard the news reports about being able to see five planets at once. This doesn’t happen very often, but it also is not some kind of weird cosmic alignment. It just means that if you were to… Read More The Time Is Now for Seeing 5 Planets At Once
Welcome to Winter Preview, a series of posts that highlights sights that can be seen in the winter skies. The constellation Auriga is one of those that looks nothing like what it is named. Auriga is the Charioteer, but you’d have to have a very active imagination to see a chariot in its vaguely pentagon-like… Read More Winter Preview: Half a Charioteer
Skywatching: December 4-7 If you want to see any planets this month, wake up before sunrise. I was up early this morning (Friday) and noticed the skies have cleared over Chicago, at last. Over the next few days, the waning crescent Moon is going to “visit” three planets visible in the morning sky before sunrise.… Read More Waning Crescent
Welcome to Winter Preview, a series of posts that highlights sights that can be seen in the winter skies. The constellation of Taurus, the bull, is home to the most famous star cluster in the skies, the Pleiades, also known as the “Seven Sisters” (in Japan, “Subaru”), though most people can only see six stars… Read More Winter Preview: The Bull and the Sisters
