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Solar System Observing

Articles about how to understand, find and see solar system objects including planets, the Moon, the Sun, asteroids, meteors, and comets with binoculars, telescopes, and the naked eye.

Field Notes from a First-Time Eclipse Watcher

August 25, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

An anxious astronomer awaits totality.

“Dad, you finally saw a total solar eclipse. Now you’re a real astronomer”, said my younger daughter in the minutes after the August 21 eclipse.

It was a joke, of course, but I still winced. This was a sore point with me. Forty-five years of stargazing, on and off, and I’d seen thousands of sights in the sky from earthbound satellites to the Moon, from icy flotsam from the outer solar system to the colorful cloud bands of Jupiter, and all manner of wonders of the deep sky including galaxies billions of years older than our solar system. But I’d never seen a total solar eclipse [Read more…] about Field Notes from a First-Time Eclipse Watcher

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Guide to Observing Saturn in 2017

June 22, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

saturnMany casual observers get hooked on amateur astronomy after a first look at Saturn through a telescope.  More than a few have looked through my small refractor on a night of good seeing and asked of Saturn, “Is it real?”

Oh, it’s real, all right.  And incredibly beautiful… the color, the proportions, the apparent 3D perspective of this grand icy world.  It is arguably the finest sight accessible with a small telescope. The planet reached opposition on June 15, 2017 and will remain bright and large in a telescope over the next few months. Here’s how to find it and see it in a small telescope.

[Read more…] about Guide to Observing Saturn in 2017

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A Guide to Observing Comet 45/P Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková

January 5, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova imaged by amateur astronomer Tim Puckett in 2011.
Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova imaged by amateur astronomer Tim Puckett in 2011.

A little periodic comet is visiting the inner solar system over the next few months. Comet 45/P Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková, a tiny piece of ice and dust left over from the earliest days of the solar system, moves periodically around the Sun every 5.25 years. It made its closest approach to the Sun on December 31, 2016 and it’s visible now. As it passes close to Earth in February, it will brighten and appear to move quickly across the sky from day to day. You’ll need binoculars to see it, but it’s worth following this little leftover hunk of the early solar system [Read more…] about A Guide to Observing Comet 45/P Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková

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Venus and the “New Year” Crescent Moon

January 2, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

venus-moon-new-year-2017
Venus and the crescent Moon on the evening of January 1, 2017, imaged from Bethesda, MD.

The waning of the first day of 2017 sees the slender crescent Moon, rounded out by Earthshine, and the brilliant planet Venus in the western sky after sunset. Venus puts on quite a show this month as it reaches greatest eastern elongation on January 12 and lies some 47° east of the Sun. The planet then grows in brightness to magnitude -4.7 by month’s end. That’s as bright as the planet ever gets, bright enough to cast shadows on a dark night.

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Tagged With: moon, venus

A Brief Guide to Observing the Planet Venus

November 24, 2016 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

venusThe planet Venus is the third brightest object in our skies after the Sun and the Moon. Known since the first humans turned their gaze to the sky, the striking appearance of Venus compelled the ancient Greeks and Romans to name the planet after the goddess of love and beauty. Other cultures, including the Sumerians and the Pawnee in North America also linked this brilliant planet to objects of feminine beauty.  The ancient Mayans had a particular interest in Venus and built an observatory at Chichen Itza to, among other things, precisely measure the position of the planet, and some aspects of the Mayan calendar are based on the motions of Venus. While Venus reveals little detail in a telescope, it grows and shrinks and goes through a series of phases similar to the Moon, and comes closer to Earth than any other planet. Here’s a little background on the planet Venus and a few tips to help you see the planet for yourself and understand its apparitions and motion in our skies [Read more…] about A Brief Guide to Observing the Planet Venus

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Tagged With: observing guide, solar system, venus

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