Songs of Spring

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

I don't lightly urge people to get up at 5 A.M. because I know how difficult that is for many of us. But if your skies are clear that morning of April 23, you really should set your alarm clock and get up. Virtually no astronomical sight draws public attention and admiration more than a close conjunction of the Moon and Venus. Notice how many nation's flags around the world bear a crescent and star — perhaps inspired by Moon-Venus conjunctions. But add Jupiter to the conjunction and you have a knot of brilliance which should be more prominent than any event of this sort you've ever imagined.

The three objects rise around roughly 4:30 A.M. (daylight saving time), which at most U.S. latitudes also marks the start of the very first subtle traces of morning twilight. The Sun doesn't rise until well after 6 A.M. for most of us that day, though, so the Moon and two planets will have a chance to get a respectable distance above the horizon before dawn starts washing out the east sky. Furthermore, the Moon and Venus are so bright that as long as the day comes with a nice blue sky, you shouldn't have much trouble finding them both with the naked eye even a few hours after sunrise. Use the Moon as guide to Venus. As a matter of fact, under very good conditions, the naked eye can glimpse Jupiter for more than 20 or 30 minutes after the Sun first peeks above the horizon.

There's something important to note, however. The later it gets, the farther the Moon will be away from the two planets. Indeed, by the time these objects rise as seen from the West Coast, the Moon will have moved several of its own diameters farther away from Venus and Jupiter. Don't despair, however: the sight will still be marvelous. The best view in the U.S. will be from the East Coast soon after the objects come up; 5 to 5:30 A.M. may be the best period for the average person to look. What will be visible then and there should be Venus and Jupiter separated by only half a degree and the Moon centered only about one-and-a-half degrees below both of them. This means that a person's finger held out at arm's length may be able to hide all three of these celestial lamps at once. That's how close together they'll be.

Indeed, farther east and south — in parts of Brazil, the South Atlantic, and Africa — the Moon-Venus-Jupiter conjunction is even more spectacular. From these regions, there will be a time when the Moon is actually directly in front of both of the two brightest planets! From parts of the latter two regions, it will be possible to see four events — each of the two planets disappearing behind the Moon, each of the two planets reappearing from behind the Moon — before sunrise.

Suppose you have the bad luck to be clouded out on April 23. Just look the morning before or after. And keep an eye out for some of the other pretty conjunctions of April and May 1998. For instance, Venus and Saturn are within three degrees of each other at dawn from May 26 to 31. On the morning of May 29, Venus and Saturn are less than half a degree apart. With a small telescope you could see both planets' globes, as well as Saturn's rings, in the same field of view.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print