Astro Bob A look at celestial happenings in the Northland and beyond Bob King View my profile Click here to view previous posts or additional resources

Double planet pairings tonight

This map shows the northwestern sky around 9:15 p.m. at mid to late twilight Saturday evening. On Sunday cluster and planet will still be near one another. Maps created with Stellarium

Tonight and tomorrow night the planet Venus will lie near the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters star cluster, making for a pretty sight in binoculars. Venus is bright and easy to see but because of low altitude and twilight, you'll probably get the best views of the cluster-planet pairing with binoculars. Just point at Venus and look to the upper right of your field of view to see the Pleiades. The two are separated by about five degrees (10 full moon widths) which is approximately the size of a typical binocular view.

The moon will make finding Saturn a snap this evening.

As twilight gives way to night, look to the south at the waxing gibbous moon. About a fist to its left that bright "star" you see is the planet Saturn. Tomorrow night Saturn will lie about a fist above the moon. Spica, Saturn, Regulus and Mars form a very long, wavy line that slices across the entire southern sky these late April nights.

Posted by: rking@duluthnews.com on 4/24/2010 at 10:59 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink | Edit

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