| Subject: Pair of comets offer evening entertainment |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 09:53:51 05/16/04 Sun
In reply to:
Betty
's message, "Pair of comets set for spring sky show" on 21:54:44 03/01/04 Mon
This is a splendid month for star-watchers, with a pair of comets and a lineup of planets that won't be duplicated for years.
After reaching maximum brightness early this month, Venus is sliding toward a transit across the face of the sun June 8. This will be the first Venus transit in 122 years.
Mars and Saturn, both in the constellation Gemini, also are slipping toward the west. Mars has shrunk to a little orange ball, but Saturn and its rings remain a beautiful sight.
Jupiter, second only to Venus in the night sky, rises soon after sunset and remains high in the south until well after midnight.
Telescopes reveal the planet's striking atmospheric bands that change from hour to hour. Four bright moons circle Jupiter in an intricate celestial dance. On Friday, an hour after sunset, a sliver of a moon will join Venus, Saturn and Mars low in the west-northwest sky.
Mercury is in the morning sky, appearing just before sunrise. On Sunday, the planet may be found to the lower left of a slender crescent moon.
Two comets should be at their best this month. They are C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR). The names come from the instruments that discovered them: NEAT is the Near Earth Tracking system at Palomar Observatory; LINEAR is the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research program at White Sands, N.M.
Tonight, NEAT will be beside the beautiful Beehive star cluster (M44) at the center of the constellation Cancer. Binoculars should provide a good view.
Comet LINEAR made its closest approach to the sun in April and now is moving out on what appears to be a very large orbit. It is moving from west to east along the southern horizon. Look for LINEAR as it approaches the brilliant star Sirius low in the west-southwest.
May also is when the big, bright constellations of summer swing into view. Already high overhead is Bootes, a constellation rich in mythology. Modern star-watchers see Bootes as having the shape of a kite, a broad necktie or a bootprint.
Ancient Egyptians saw Bootes as a hippopotamus protecting the pole star from the Great Bear. Greeks saw it as a shepherd and named the brightest star Bear Watcher, or Arcturus.
To find Bootes, follow the arc of the Big Dipper's handle across the sky to a bright, pale-orange star. This is Arcturus, at the southern end of Bootes.
West of Arcturus and almost overhead is the constellation Coma Berenices, which is rich in faint stars and galaxies.
To the naked eye, the constellation appears as an open star cluster as wide as the bottom of the Dipper's bowl.
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