Friday, February 24, 2012

"Rain Rain Go Away" or "Planetary Parade"

It is a rainy Friday here on Bonaire.  I really hope it clears up tomorrow because Venus, Jupiter and the Moon will be putting on a great show Saturday and Sunday evenings.
The Moon will be close to Venus on Saturday night and close to Jupiter Sunday night.  This grouping of the two planets and the Moon should look really nice.  You can also use the Moon's close proximity to the planets to identify Venus on Saturday night and then to identify Jupiter on Sunday night.

You can also use the Moon to look for Venus before sunset on Saturday afternoon.  If you are in western Europe, Venus will be more or less directly to the left of the moon.  In North America, Venus will be to the lower left of the Moon.  This article at Sky and Telescope explains it and has a nice diagram.

I've seen Venus during the daytime here on Bonaire.  But always in the morning when I can first locate Venus in the dark and then track its progress across the sky relative to some fixed object.  One time I could find Venus until about noon.

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