[at-l] Jupiter and Venus

[icw39@ncfreedom.net (Clark Wright)]

They have been awesome the last few nights from "down east" in New Bern,
NC!

Thru-thinker

David wrote:
> 
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=96&e=1&cid=96&u=/space/2002
> 0531/sc_space/dynamic_duo__two_brightest_planets_converge_in_evening_sky
> Dynamic Duo: Two Brightest Planets Converge in Evening Sky
> Fri May 31, 9:27 AM ET
> By Joe Rao, SPACE.com
> A lingering artifact of the recent great gathering of the naked-eye planets
> is still evident in our evening sky.
> 
> Even casual sky watchers may have taken note of the two very bright "stars"
> in the western sky for a couple of hours after sunset during the past week
> or so. City dwellers can't miss them, either.
> Both objects shine with a silvery-white luster. One appears noticeably
> brighter. And in recent nights both drew noticeably closer to each other.
> These two objects are actually the two brightest planets, Jupiter and Venus.
> The two planets will appear closest on June 3.
> At this moment in time from our Earthly viewpoint, they are like two
> celestial ships passing in the night. Of course, the planets are nowhere
> near each other in space; they just happened to be aligned in such a manner
> so as to appear next to each other as seen from Earth. Venus is 120 million
> miles away, while Jupiter is 561 million miles from us.
> The actual (apparent) closest approach, with Venus sliding just 1.6 degrees
> above (north) of Jupiter, will take place at 18 hours Greenwich Time, which
> is during the daytime for North America. At that time, a distance of just
> over three times the apparent width of the full Moon will separate the two
> planets. Even though they will already be in the process of slowly
> separating as darkness falls across the Western Hemisphere, the two planets
> will still appear practically as close together as they were just hours
> before.
> Jupiter will shine about one-seventh as bright as Venus.
> On subsequent nights, Jupiter will appear to drop rapidly away from Venus,
> setting progressively earlier and becoming more and more deeply immersed in
> the bright evening twilight. Jupiter will sit below and to the left of the
> crescent Moon on June 12, and will likely disappear from view by month's
> end.
> Venus, on the other hand, reaches its highest altitude in the western
> evening twilight in June for this current apparition and captures the gaze
> of millions.
> All through June, Venus will appear each evening more than 25 degrees high
> in the west right after sunset and will not drop below the horizon until at
> least 2 to 2½ hours later. On the evening of June 13, look for the beautiful
> crescent Moon hanging above and to Venus' left.
> By the end of June, Venus will be the only planet of the great evening array
> that will still be visible. All the others -- Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and
> Saturn -- will either be effectively masked by the glare of the Sun, or, as
> will be the case with Mercury, be accessible only in the early morning sky,
> just before sunrise.
> Venus will continue to be visible in the evening sky, just after sunset,
> into the beginning of October.
> David Addleton
> vocate atque non vocate deus aderit
> http://dfaddleton.home.mindspring.com
> http://dfaddleton.50megs.com
> 
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