SUNSET PLANETS [Mercury and much brighter Venus now visible in west just after sunset]

Spaceweather.com ^ | March 31, 2010

[Conan the Librarian]

Thanks!

At some point I need to learn how to embed video on FR.

[ETL]

But for something like this a snapshot works best, unless it’s a time lapse. Because in its orbit around the Earth, the Moon only moves about the width of its apparent diameter (1/2 degree) every 45 minutes or so to the east (in the opposite direction it moves along with the entire sky every day due to the rotation of the Earth [west to east]). Perhaps some movement vs the background stars can be detected in that 5 min YouTube you posted, but it probably wouldn’t be too easy to pick up. I could be wrong. I didn’t really look for orbital movement when I watched it.

[SunkenCiv]

Ah, for the good old days. ;')

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[KoRn]

Many many many, thanks for posting this!

I’ve taken a bit of an interest in night sky watching lately. This past weekend I went out and picked up a good binocular, that’s adequate for looking at the stars and other objects. It was clear out when I got home with them, so I gave it a try. I was totally blown away by how much the night sky seems to ‘come alive’ when looking at it with optics. Just looking at the Nebula in Orion is one of the more beautiful things I’ve ever seen! It was a little surprising when I thought about how I’d seen it my entire life, but never really knew how awesome it was, until getting a closer look.

I’m still trying to get a feel for what I’m looking at up there, and your post has the kind of information I’ve been looking for. Especially since I’m in VA, and you being in NY.

Thanks again! Please continue to post such threads whenever you get such information.

[ETL]

You’re welcome. Feel free to ask any questions you might have on the subject. If I can’t answer it, someone else probably can.

[Conan the Librarian]

Exactly. That particular event was such that I ran out of sky before you could see movement (trees in the way).

There was a Pleiades/Moon event several years ago that I recorded (I’d have to dig up the video), that had several prominent occultations in it. I managed to get some close up of at least one star’s disappearance before the trees got in the way.

I thought it was in my youtube also, but, it is not. I’ll dig it up and upload it as I can.

[KoRn]

The view of Venus and Mercury together was awesome this evening! Thanks for the heads up!

Using the astronomy software that was linked to in this thread, I was also able to see Mars and Saturn(I’m pretty sure) very well using my binoculars.

I can’t believe I hadn’t discovered this little hobby sooner, because it’s a lot of fun. I wish I would have had the optics when those comets were around back during the mid-90s. Every clear night is a big event! I might have to break down and find me a good telescope. I’d love to get a closer look at that Nebula within the Orion constellation.

[ETL]

Yes it was. I saw it tonight from Manhattan.