by William J. Bechaver
The distant planets are beginning to emerge from the morning twilight, to shine brighter in our skies before dawn.
Saturn has now risen above the glare of the Sun, to enter the sky just after four in the morning. This means that you can find Saturn above the eastern horizon while the sky appears completely dark.
Mars is just behind Saturn, rising about a half an hour later. It appears lower to the left of Saturn, with the two a little more than ten degrees apart. The sky is already beginning to lighten slightly when Mars makes its appearance, but it shines a little brighter than Saturn, and both are becoming very easy to see as we draw nearer, and they appear further from the Sun.
Below Mars, at about the same distance, to the lower left, is tiny Mercury. It remains low to the horizon. Though Mercury now shines brighter than Saturn and Mars, it is difficult to find without binoculars. The sky surrounding Mercury is bright, as Mercury appears so low along the horizon before sunrise. Mercury rises less than an hour before the Sun, and appears so low, you only have a chance to find it using binoculars right now.
Next week, the Moon will parade between the planets, making locating them in the morning sky an easy task.
By the end of the week, the fine crescent Moon enters the field. Go out early on the morning of Friday 3 May, and you will find the Moon off to the right of a rising Saturn.
On Friday, the Moon will rise at about three-thirty in the morning. Saturn will enter the sky above the horizon about a dozen minutes later, appearing to the left of the beautiful crescent Moon. This will set the stage for finding the planets the following week.
More than thirty minutes after Saturn, Mars will rise, to the lower left of Saturn. If you look along that same line, at about the same distance, about an hour later, you will find Mercury low to the horizon, with the use of a good pair of binoculars. All three planets are lined up, with about the same distance separating the three.
But wait! There’s an extra planet in our morning sky that is often overlooked. It is so distant, it requires a good pair of binoculars, a clear and steady eastern sky, and a low horizon.
On the morning of Sunday 28 April, from our point of view, Mars will be passing very near the very distant, and dim planet Neptune, the furthest planet from the Sun in our solar system.
The two will appear so very near each other, less than a tenth of a degree will separate them. So, looking for Neptune will be worth the effort. Find Mars in the early morning sky, before the sky begins to lighten very much. Finding Mars as early as possible is imperative, to assure the surrounding sky is dark. Once you find Mars low above the eastern horizon, look through binoculars to try to find the faintest of dots to the left of the red planet. If you see anything in the same field of view with Mars, it is the planet Neptune.
They only appear near each other from our point of view on Earth. Mars is much nearer to Earth, a tiny, rocky world. Neptune is a gigantic ice giant planet, more than seven times the size of Mars. But Neptune is 2.851 billion miles away, more than fifteen times the distance of Mars. Neptune is nearly three times more distant than Saturn, the furthest planet we can observe without visual aid. The two planets only appear close together, for more than two billion miles of space separates Neptune from Mars.
Jupiter is ever sinking lower in our evening sky. The twilight glow can still be seen when Jupiter sets, now just an hour after the Sun. Soon Jupiter will pass around the far side of the Sun, at its furthest distance from Earth. Get outside during evening twilight to find the gem of Jupiter shining low in our western sky.
With the morning planets now rising to prominence, if you only look to the sky this week, you are bound to see something amazing!
With our dark skies here, they only need to be clear, so keep your eyes on the skies from sunset to sunrise.
Thanks for the positive feedback about our featured columns, and your continued interest in astronomy. If you have any questions or article requests, contact us at spacescape@rocketmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ColoSpacEScapE for updates and additional viewing opportunities.
ASTRONOMICAL TIMES AND DISTANCES of naked-eye objects for this weekend.
Sun Set = 7:43 p.m.
6 minutes later than last week
93.585 million miles from Earth
174,400 miles further than last week
2.181 million miles further than its nearest in January
Jupiter Set = 8:56 p.m.
19 minutes earlier than last week
1 hour 13 minutes after the Sun
555.440 million miles from Earth
3,407,524 miles further than last week
185.115 million miles further than its nearest in November
Moon Rise = 11:59 p.m.
63 minutes later than yesterday
6 hours 7 minutes before the Sun
239,271 miles from Earth
2,273 miles nearer than yesterday
12,493 miles nearer than last week
Nearest is 221,557 miles
Furthest is 252,665 miles
Saturn Rise = 4:01 a.m.
26 minutes earlier than last week
2 hours 5 minutes before the Sun
956.239 million miles from Earth
8,198,662 miles nearer than last week
39.273 million miles nearer than its furthest in February
Mars Rise = 4:28 a.m.
15 minutes earlier than last week
1 hour 38 minutes before the Sun
184.616 million miles from Earth
2,450,200 miles nearer than last week
52.367 million miles nearer than its furthest in October
Mercury Rise = 5:16 a.m.
21 minutes earlier than last week
50 minutes before the Sun
61.993 million miles from Earth
6,303,259 miles further than last week
8.410 million miles further than its nearest in April
Venus Rise = 5:46 a.m.
5 minutes earlier than last week
20 minutes before the Sun
157.651 million miles from Earth
1,430,361 miles further than last week
130.814 million miles further than its nearest in August
Sun Rise = 6:06 a.m.
8 minutes earlier than last week
93.596 million miles from Earth
10,670 miles further than last evening
173,989 miles further than last week
2,191,970 miles further than its nearest in January
Third Quarter Moon occurs on Wednesday, May 1st, at 5:27 a.m.
We’ve Gained 15 Minutes Of Daylight since last week, and 1 hour 10 minutes since last month, and 4 hours 1 minute since the December Solstice.
Our Nearest Planetary Neighbor currently is Mercury. It is 31,602,435 miles nearer than the Sun.
No Planet In The Dark Sky for 7 hours 5 minutes. This is the duration between Jupiter Set at night and Saturn Rise in the morning. No planets are visible with a naked-eye during this period.
Note: Times are local Mountain Time. Actual “sundown” is about a dozen minutes earlier than calculated “sunset”. Along the front range, differing times vary depending on your distance from the mountains.
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• · William J. Bechaver is the director of SPACE • Spanish Peaks Amateur Cosmos Enthusiasts, the premier Astronomical Society for Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.
S·P·A·C·E•Date 16.4230 • 233 •
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S·P·A·C·E • Spanish Peaks Amateur Cosmos Enthusiasts 