#9 A Few Planets

Hello Stargazers!  That is Venus and it's beautifully gold cloud cover; the cloud cover gives it the brightness that we have come to dub the morning/evening star.

You may have noticed a bit of a lapse in the blogging; I've been busy visiting with my parents this week!  Also, each time I have wanted to pull out the telescope prior to their arrival or during their visit, it has been hazy and/or partially cloudy.  I get so frustrated with the weather, but I should be grateful that most of the time the night sky out here in Arizona is beautiful!

So, I have been just in the practice of viewing a few of the planets currently in the night and dawn sky.  This past week I have been able to spy Jupiter and Mercury on the western dusk horizon just after sunset.  The brightest "star" in the Western sky is Jupiter at this time; keep a keen eye on the horizon and you will see Mercury.  Our Winter sky is slowly retiring to the Western horizon, making way for the Spring and Summer night spectacles.

I also enjoyed a quick viewing of Venus, our morning and evening "star," on last Friday morning while carpooling with my colleague and friend V.  Pulling out of the housing community, I took a quick look towards the dawn Eastern sky and spied the bright planet adding to the beautiful sunrise of the morning.

So that leaves only Mars and Neptune to write about; Mars (Ares) will show up in the night sky in February 2012 and Neptune (Poseidon) in the night sky in early August.  Mars is sitting in the early evening sky right now and is not visible through the abundant sunshine, so patience is key to viewing Mars next year.  We will attempt a viewing of Neptune in August.

Venus (Aphrodite) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty, and Mercury (Hermes) is the Greek god of travel, correspondence, and messages.  Hermes is the messenger of the Gods to the humans, sharing this role counterpart Iris.  He is also a guide to the underworld.  Aphrodite was married to Vulcan (Hephaestus) due to her extreme beauty causing intense jealousy amongst the Greek gods.  It is interesting to equate the Greek goddess of love and beauty to Venus; as Venus is quite beautiful from afar, but quite a dangerous and stormy place upon further inspection.  Mercury really is just a piece of superheated rock, and the only planet that does not rotate on its axis due to the intense gravity of the Sun, but it is the quickest to circle the Sun.

I have been trying to set up the telescope for a viewing of the late evening Eastern sky for the emergence of Saturn just below Leo the Lion.  I have also wanted to view a few galaxies below Leo and share about the Lion, so keep an eye out for this in the coming weeks.  Virgo and the galaxies of Virgo are also upcoming, and a small but densely star-populated area called the Coma Berenices to the left of Leo the Lion houses a few star clusters, especially the Coma star cluster.

I'm excited for the end of this week, as currently I am looking at a bright blue sky and enjoying warm weather in the Spring evenings!  My wife reminds me that the night sky is not going anywhere and there is no rush to viewing the gems upcoming in the Spring.  So, I am reminded to pause and enjoy the pace of nature.