planets line up

[PlasticSpanner]

Only three? Good job you told me in time.
If I had carried out that particular ritual with only 3 planets in alignment I would have transmigrated into a hedgehog.
Close call there.
I'd better tell the virgin to put her clothes back on. On second thoughts, as I no longer need a virgin.....

Since when did anybody NOT need a virgin? :lmao:

 

[PlasticSpanner]

For anyone in the UK this was taken from the BBC website.

Mercury
If you are very lucky you may find Mercury low down in the evening skies this month. However, the summer evenings are bright and twilight skies officially last all night. On top of this, the planet is caught in the Sun's western sky glare.

However there is an event that is definitely worth trying to catch. From 25th to 28th June, Saturn, Mercury and Venus can be seen together. Venus and Mercury skim closely past one another on the evening of the 27th. You'll be able to see the event with the naked eye, but binoculars or a telescope are really the order of the day here if you have access to either.

Very close Venus, Mercury with Saturn at 9.30pm on 27th June​

Venus
Since its reappearance last month, Venus has been making slow progress away from the Sun. Unfortunately the progress has been left across the sky rather than up from the horizon. This has left Venus low in the bright glow of the setting summer Sun.

However - as mentioned in the Mercury notes above - there is a fine planetary conjunction (Venus and Mercury together) on the 27th. Helping you to find the planet - though also in the glare - is the two-day-old crescent Moon which sits above Venus on the 8th.

Mars
Mars is finally beginning to rise earlier in the night. (Though 2.15am is still an anti-social hour!) But once again, it doesn't get carried that high in the south-east sky before the brightening dawn drowns out its red light. Use the morning waning Moon on the 29th to find Mars - you'll find our satellite just to the upper-left of the planet.

Planets moving through non-Zodiac constellations have a passing interest for some. Last year, Venus took a detour through Orion. This month Mars has an interesting course: first the planet moves from Aquarius into Pisces, but its tilted orbit actually means that from the 21st until the end of the month it travels through Cetus, the Whale.

Jupiter
Jupiter is in the south-western sky by the time the late summer darkness arrives. The planet is in Virgo, and the bright star to the lower-left is the Maiden's leading star Spica. See if you can spot its bluey-white colour.

The waxing gibbous Moon is to the right of Jupiter on the 15th.

Saturn
Saturn gets lower and lower as the Sun moves towards it in the western evening skies. By the end of the month the light from the ringed-world will be as good as lost in the bright dusk. As mentioned in the Mercury notes, you'll find the 25th to 28th a good time for spotting Saturn alongside other planets.


/science/space/myspace/nightsky/images/shower.gifMeteor Showers
The 'shooting star' display of the month is the eta Aquarids. The shower peaks on the 5th when you could see a maximum of about 30 meteors an hour. At this point the Moon is nearly new, which leaves a nice dark sky to see any of the fainter meteors.

It has to be said this is more of a shower for those living in more southerly latitudes. But if you see a meteor coming from the eastern horizon up to May 12th, then it is probably an Aquarid.






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The evening view of Venus, Mercury and Saturn at 9.45pm on 25th June​

And at least in Cheshire we should have a fairly clear night on 26th/27th!

 

[photong]

The planets aligned and my town is blasting off enough fireworks to probably pay my annual salary at the same time? This could cause a major problem with the interdimensional shifts. Let's see now....3.14~x(8z)n...yup! Its gonna be messy tonight folks.

:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

i work(ed) all those nights. no pictures for meeeeeeeeeee...

 

[MDowdey]

sounds like a bad sequel to pitch black to me.

 

[mentos_007]

Jon... and what to do if the sky is overclouded every night here??? They say nothing about it!

 

[JonMikal]

Jon... and what to do if the sky is overclouded every night here???

watch tv?

 

[JonMikal]

man, i don't believe this. they were calling for minimum clouds tonight.....you can't see the freakin sky at all. anyone see anything?

 

[hobbes28]

I hear you Jon. I'm sitting here listening to the thunder that's starting to roll in this way. It's been super clear all day and now that it's dark, theres a t-storm coming.