What's the bright star/planet near the moon?

dewsbury

Hi,

When I look at the moon tonight at 8:30pm (Dublin) I see a very bright star/planet near the moon.

What is it?

Oscar Bravo

That would be Jupiter ,dewsbury.

GBX

I wouldnt be big into astronomy but I did download the Google Sky Map which is handy for picking out stars and names etc.

dewsbury

Thanks for the response ....

Hello Jupiter (I think it was very visible last year at this time)

Are there are other EASILY spottable planets out there at this time?

Rhys Essien

OP,download Stellarium here.Its a free planetarium software.It tells you everything in the night sky.

http://www.stellarium.org/

ZeRoY

Jupiter indeed, was even closer last night!

Here's a shot I did of it tonight:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=88488317&postcount=189

Knifey Spoony

dewsbury wrote: »

Are there are other EASILY spottable planets out there at this time?

Mars is visible around 1am, rising in the east. It should slowly start rising earlier and earlier over the next few weeks/months for a early viewing time.

If you are up early enough, Saturn should be visible before sunrise in the east and maybe Mercury, but it might be too close to the Sun to see. Saturn will be visible more or less all night during the summer months, if you don't want to get up early now though.

Venus was visible after sunset around Christmas and it was a spectacular sight be see. But, unfortunately it is too close to the Sun now to see. It should eventually come out of the glare of the Sun in the next few months and start rising in the east before sunrise.

So, your best bet for now are Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Well worth downloading Stellarium for a lot more info on the positions of the planets/stars.

dewsbury

I am the OP.

Thanks all for the super responses.

Very helpful and interesting!

dewsbury

As an afterthought..


Where can I see the "paths" of the planets in the coming weeks/months.

Is there a good website?

ZeRoY

Not exactly what you are asking for, I get that info for moon/jupiter from Astronomy Ireland mag but this is the essentials night after nights:

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials

ps200306

dewsbury wrote: »

As an afterthought..


Where can I see the "paths" of the planets in the coming weeks/months.

Is there a good website?

Download Stellarium. Line up your planet in the centre of the view. There is a function for advancing (or reversing) the time by one sidereal day or one sidereal week. It does "normal" days and weeks too, but the sidereal day/week brings the stars back to the same position each night, so you can see the track of the planet against the background stars.

Note that the sidereal day is four minutes shorter than a solar day, so advancing by one sidereal day at a time brings you to a slightly earlier clock time each night.

If you switch on the view of the ecliptic line (the path the sun travels along during the course of the year), you will see that the paths of the planets are along the ecliptic (as is the moon to a somewhat lesser extent).

Letting Stellarium cycle through a sidereal year is a great way to learn how the motion of the sky works.