Editorial

The long-running Planet Show continues

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

The Planet Show featuring Venus and other planets continues in the west after sunset for the next few months through the end of July. In the coming weeks Uranus and Jupiter will get involved and the moon will pay a few more visits.

Tonight -- Wednesday, Feb. 25 -- the moon has moved on to scooch up close to the star Aldebaran in Taurus, the Bull

If you missed the Mars-Venus-moon meet up last Friday, not to worry. The moon will make another pass close to Venus in March and April and not so close in May and June.

Let's turn our attention to a constellation that is prominent in the early evening sky, Gemini, the Twins. It can be located almost due south and directly overhead at around 1900 hours MST. It is a rectangle of stars with two very bright stars -- Castor and Pollux -- on the left end (as you are looking at it).

To help locate Gemini, look for our old friend Orion, the Hunter then look to his upper left just past his upraised club where the feet of the duo are located.

Pollux is the lower of the duo and is the largest and brightest of the two. For comparison it is nine times wider than our million-mile wide Sun and 43 times brighter.

One interesting thing about Pollux is that astronomers have recently discovered a planet in orbit around it.

The other twin, Castor, is a little more than twice the size of our Sun and 30 times brighter. It is also hotter than its brother, Pollux. In fact, Castor is not just one star but six stars.

There are three sets of two stars that orbit each other, then all three sets orbit a common center of gravity.

Since you are already outside, swing your gaze a little to the left toward the eastern horizon for another bright object, the planet Jupiter. It is just past the rather dim constellation Cancer, the Crab which features the very interesting star cluster M44, sometimes called "The Beehive."

Look for the four Galilean moons, two on each side, in either binoculars or a small telescope.

By the way, Cancer looks like a scrunched letter "Y," or as some have said, like the peace symbol from the 1960s.

The Beehive makes a really nice target for binoculars or even a small telescope. With just the eyes alone -- from a very dark-sky place -- will look like a fuzzy patch of light.

The bright star just to Jupiter's lower left is Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, the Lion, which is just rising above the horizon. Leo is one of the first constellations of spring. Regulus is also the "dot" below the backwards question mark that is the head and mane of the beast.

SKYWATCH: Tonight, Wednesday, Feb. 25, the moon is at first quarter which means the face is half-lit by sunlight. It is located right in the middle of the face of Taurus, the Bull. Look up and right for the faint fuzzy spot that is the Pleiades star cluster, or the 44th item on Mr. Messier's list of things that are not comets, use binoculars. If we follow the moon for the next two weeks it will bracket M44 on March 1-2; bracket Regulus on March 3-4 and visit the bright star Spica on March 8.

NEXT WEEK: Another planetary meet-up, the full moon, the Zodiacal light, and more astronomical blathering.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: