On the morning of April 30, Jupiter will shine close to the full moon, making a dazzling predawn sight.
Credit: Starry Night Software
Posted on 04/08/2018 9:39:20 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Since most of us do not have as a fertile imagination as our ancestors in visualizing people, animals, mythological beasts or even inanimate objects among the stars, we tend to fall back on more familiar figures, such as a great square, a backwards question mark, a kite, and so on.
The sky abounds in this particular shape.... In addition to two constellations that are officially recognized as triangles (Triangulum and Triangulum Australe, the Southern Triangle), there are triangles that represent the hindquarters of two animals, the Big Dog (Canis Major) and the Lion (Leo).
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Probably the most famous celestial triangles in our sky is ... The Summer Triangle . It's a roughly isosceles figure composed of Vega, in Lyra, the Lyre, Altair in Aquila, the Eagle.
Currently, in order to get a good view of the Summer Triangle, we must wait until around 3 a.m. your local time and face east-northeast; the Triangle will be ascending the sky and will be roughly halfway from the horizon to the overhead point at the first light of dawn.
By the time we get to mid-June, the Triangle will already be rising as darkness falls and will be in the sky all night. And of course, during the balmy nights of July, August and September, the Triangle will be a prominent fixture in our summer sky.
In our current late evening sky, there is a somewhat similar, albeit brighter triangle configuration, although it is only temporary since one of the three points on the triangle is marked not by a star, but a planet. Facing east-southeast this week at around 11 p.m. your local time, we can see a roughly isosceles triangle formed by the bright stars Arcturus and Spica and the brilliant planet Jupiter.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Thanks for posting BenLurkin. Bttt
Thank-you. This is one of the best videos for my easily confused mind.
Dazzling 10pm sight.
I’ve been enjoying watching Jupiter rise up out of the muck as I head to bed the last month or so.
Hoping to get a view in the scope soon.
Cygnus, ‘’The Swan’’ is home to the star Deneb. Deneb is one of the most massive stars in the universe.
Thanks BenLurkin. Ping to the old APoD list.
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