"Dance of the Planets", for May 25th, forty-five minutes after sunset. May 24th through the 29th we will see three planets in very close proximity to each other in the evening sky - Jupiter, Venus and Mercury!

The software for this image is free and can be found at http://www.stellarium.org/. It's also great to use if you want to know what the Moon looks like three days or three years from now. It's very easy to use!
What time is sunrise or sunset for you? Check this website out (time and date.com).

Venus 45 minutes after sunset for 2013

The above animated graphic of Venus, along with the Moon, Mercury and two Jovian planets, is set at precisely forty-five minutes after sunset, from the first day of May through the end of February 2014. Each frame represents one day of time with the total number of days (frames) coming to 303. The planets and moon are not to scale. The frame rate is set at 15 frames per second. The movie lasts a quick twenty seconds which spans exactly ten months of time.

Venus reached superior conjunction, on the far side of the Sun, on March 28th of this year. Afterwards, Venus has been slowly moving into the evening sky, away from the Sun’s brilliance, to the point our eyes can easily make it out in the twilight near the horizon.

The Moon can be seen flashing across the screen above, each month, as it pulls away from the Sun. If you use the three green buttons in the graphic above, you can stop or step through the frames backwards or forwards at one frame at a time to watch how the Moon lines-up with Venus and the other planets.

The first planet you see already occupying the evening sky in this animation is Jupiter on the right-hand side of the screen. As you watch the movie, Jupiter is fast heading for a rendezvous with the Sun during the month of May. By the end of May and early June, we lose sight of this Jovian planet as it heads below the horizon for inferior conjunction on June 19th.

During the third week of May, Mercury begins moving up and away from the horizon right behind Venus. By May 23rd, Mercury overtakes Venus. On May 25th and 26th, we have a conjunction of three planets where they are in close proximity to each other. On May 27th and 28th, Jupiter and Venus have a very close conjunction.

The Moon joins Mercury and Venus in the sky on June 10th. That should make for an excellent photograph that evening! Mercury eventually drops below the horizon by June 28th. Mercury will reappear two more times during the coming months.

Venus will eventually meet up with Saturn for a conjunction on September 20th. Saturn will drop below the horizon by October 21st. Saturn reaches inferior conjunction on November 6th.

The first magnified view of Venus is shown at 90% illumination on July 2nd. The second enlarged image of Venus is at 80% on August 11th. As the months progress, you will note that Venus gets larger and eventually changes to a crescent illumination much like the moon. By December 24th, Venus will be only 10% illuminated. This change is because the orbit of Venus carries the planet closer to Earth; thus, the dark side becomes more prominent.

In a matter of days, after the 24th, Venus finally drops below the horizon during the first week of January 2014 with our “sister planet" reaching inferior conjunction, closest to the Sun, on January 11th. Mercury can be seen one more time towards the west during the last half of January and early February.

All of what you see above occurs over a span of ten months. A small telescope will be needed to see the phases of the planets. The “dance of the planets” is always a joy to watch with the unaided eye, so step outside and enjoy the view!

 

Hybrid Eclipse of the Sun (animated)
November 3, 2013