Tuesday 26 January 2016

The beauty of a line! (astronomy events part-2)

Welcome back audience!!

Ever wondered how a line can amuse you by its magnificent look? Sometimes its just a matter of excitement that something can give you! So tight your hands !, grab your telescopes !, and be ready with your cameras to capture a magnificent view of the sky in morning this week!

So basically what is going to happen is that the all the classical planets are visible on the line of their orbit, well you would think that it is not a big thing, but wait! , all this is going to happen on the same time and thats the interesting part of it.

All though mercury is shown here it wont be visible in the telescope or to the naked eye.
Four  planets adorn the morning sky this week — the same quintet of “wanderers” (Venus  to Saturn) our ancient ancestors recognized as being different from the background stars. Head outside about 45 minutes before sunrise and you will see the solar system objects spread out across approximately 110°. 

Start with Jupiter in the southwestern sky, then pick up Mars nearly due south, Saturn climbing in the southeast, brilliant Venus to its lower left, and lastly Mercury hanging low in the twilight. The view of the five improves over the next week or two as Mercury climbs higher and grows brighter.
Stellarium view the event from Southern Hemisphere.
By the time morning twilight starts to paint the sky, both Venus and Saturn appear prominent in the southeast. Venus shines brilliantly at magnitude –4.0 — the brightest point of light in the sky.

Although Venus may be brighter, there’s no denying the charms of neighboring Saturn. The ringed planet shines at magnitude 0.5 and lies 15° to Venus’ upper right. When viewed through a telescope, Saturn shows a 16"-diameter disk surrounded by a stunning ring system that spans 36" and tilts 26° to our line of sight.

The Red Planet has also now brightened considerably since the start of the New Year, shining at magnitude 0.8. Mars’ rapid motion nearly matches the Sun’s pace, so the world rises only about a half-hour earlier at January’s close than it did on New Year’s Day.

Mars was a telescopic dud during 2015 because its diameter never exceeded 5.5". That starts to change in January because the planet pulls significantly closer to Earth. By month’s end, it appears 6.8" across and may start to show some subtle surface markings through larger scopes. Conditions will improve quickly this spring as Mars approaches opposition in May, when it will appear bigger and brighter than at any time since 2005.

Mercury approaches Venus as this week progresses. The innermost planet stands 9° high in the southeast a half-hour before sunrise on the 31st, when you can locate it 7° to Venus’ lower left. It shines at magnitude 0.0 and should show up clearly through binoculars.

written by : Aviral Srivastava

find me on Instagram :avirals_22

email me at : aviralsrivastava12@gmail.com

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