Friday, October 5, 2007

Heavenly Triangulation

A bit of heaven you may want to be up before sunrise for, from the 7th to the 9th.  Looking in constellation Leo, the brightest star is the "tail", Regulus, as you can see.  But first, right now I'm waiting to get a better predawn look at Saturn and Venus, with Regulus only 4 degrees from both planets, which will be a waking dream to see.  This grouping is still "contracting" together.  Can you see it, on the map in the upper right?  On the 6th, the waning Moon will hang close to these 3 lights, then, several hours before sunrise on the 7th, in the Americas, Venus, Saturn and Regulus will all rise in a triangle that's only 6 degress long and very thin - with the crescent Moon hanging inside it!! 

This celetial trio will last from the 9th to the 13th, being very compact on the 10th.  It'll be startling.  One thing happening for the first time in 10 years is that Saturn will be very much dimmer, because its rings have closed from edgewise, an unheard of 10 degrees, as I say for the first time in a decade.  I wonder why ...  

But all that matters is ths bright triangulation, showing off in perfect accord with the forceful lion - Leo. 

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Basics courtesy of Sky & Tel, Skywatcher, R&L, star charts 

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

This makes me wish I had a telescope!
Pam

Anonymous said...

I might be up before dawn, but lately I'm not happy about it.  This may give me a reason to smile.  :)

Anonymous said...

oh..I would LOVE to have one of those latest technoscope!
7th....wow!
Gem :-)

Anonymous said...

I've learned so much stuff about what's up there in the sky since I started reading your blog!  In fact, I changed my bed so that my head is literally next to the window (the bed comes even with the window sill).  Gives me a good view at the most unexpected times.

Anonymous said...

Mary Jo, I'm humbled, thank you!  The heavens are a dependable treasure.  

Anonymous said...

I think that will be a very interesting sight! -Missy

Anonymous said...

I think wed night , ( I read) that you were suppose to see MARS clearly, after mid night! BUT I just didnt have it inme to stay up!



~make it a great day!~
         Sharon
http://journals.aol.com/buggieboo1/ImASurvivor/

Anonymous said...

The only thing visible in the night sky here in western Washington state is clouds...   :(    Linda in Washington  

Anonymous said...

Sharon, I'm dedicating a special MARS entry right now just for you!  Hope you're well sweetie, good hearing from you.  xoxo

Anonymous said...

Cool! Thank you for the information.
Lisa

Anonymous said...

    Facinating. As you can see by the date of this post, I missed it. The sky in this area is so bright, chances are I wouldn't have recognized it anyway if it were visible here.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay