Venus and Jupiter Draw Close!

  JUPITER AND VENUS are drawing very close! These two will get closer and closer in the evening sky over the month of June. In early June, Venus will form a straight line with the bright “twin stars” Castor and Pollux in Gemini. After that, these stars will drop lower toward the sunset, away from Venus, as the Sun begins… Continue reading

Lunar Conjunctions in May

  On the evening of Thursday, May 21, the waxing crescent Moon will pass the blazingly bright planet Venus. Look to the western sky after sunset to see this pair glittering in the twilight. Keep your eye on the Moon for the next couple of nights, as it will pass the very bright planet Jupiter on the evening of Saturday,… Continue reading

Planets and Constellations in May

  If you learned to spot Jupiter and Venus from this recent graphic (http://on.fb.me/1AZQoWk), now you’re ready to find these blazingly bright planets among the constellations! Throughout the month of May, Jupiter and Venus will be lined up between the constellations Gemini and Leo. Look for them in the western sky about an hour after sunset. These constellations are especially… Continue reading

Palindrome Week – 2015

  Now that Pi Day and all the sequential number dates are past for the 21st century, what’s a math geek to do? Thankfully, someone belatedly figured out about PALINDROME WEEK! (Actually, a 10 day period). These would have started on January 1, 2001, and there would have been one week a year since (except in 2010). So we missed… Continue reading

Noon Sun During May

  During May, the days grow long much less than in April, since the Sun increases only 7 degrees in declination, compared to 14-1/2 degrees in that previous month. (Compare with the previous month’s graphics.) The length of daylight only increases between 23 to 54 minutes for most locations in the USA, whereas daylight increased nearly two hours in April.… Continue reading

Jupiter Approaching Venus

Most people are unaware that the planets Venus and Jupiter are the brightest objects in the sky after the Sun and Moon, and brighter than any stars in the sky. Every so often, these bright planets line up in the evening sky, making a beautiful sight. However, on July 1, 2015, there will be a very close conjunction of these… Continue reading

Conjunction of the Moon and Venus

  On Tuesday, April 21, the three-day old waxing crescent Moon will be in conjunction with the planet Venus, the bright evening star. This is a regular conjunction between these two bodies, and it happens every month. However, this month, the Moon and Venus are joined by the bright star Aldebaran, the red eye of the bull in the constellation… Continue reading

The Lion is Higher Than Orion

  Spring is a great season to start learning the constellations. You can still see the constellations of winter, as they incline toward the west, soon to disappear into the sunset. In the current month, Venus is passing through Taurus, near the famous constellation Orion. The blazing evening star Venus is currently in Taurus, making these constellation easy to find.… Continue reading

The Sun in Aries During April

Due to the Earth’s annual revolution, the line of sight between the Sun and the background constellations is constantly changing. This appears as the Sun moving east through the constellations of the zodiac. During April, the Sun appears to be moving from the constellation Pisces into Aries. In the process, the Sun appears to be moving north from the celestial… Continue reading

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