Dance of the Planets

If you have been outside during the frequently clear nights lately, you have probably seen a bright object in the western sky. The bright object happens to be the planet Venus. Apart from the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the brightest object that is visible in our skies. It stands out in the evening twilight, glowing brightly as it hangs serenely above the horizon. But soon it will have company: the planet Saturn.

If you go out after sunset (around 10.00pm) and look to the west, you will see bright Venus, and a dimmer “star” to its left. That “star” is - in actuality - the planet Saturn. And as these planets move around the sun, they change positions in relationship to the Earth, which is bringing Saturn closer to Venus in the evening sky. By the end of the week, they will be less than one degree apart, making a striking pair of objects in the deepening twilight. Soon after, Saturn will “pass” Venus as it gets closer to the sun.

The excellent site Spaceweather.com has some images of the pairing for different days this week.

June 25 | June 26 | June 27
June 28 | June 29 | June 30 | July 1

After this Saturn will leave Venus behind, and once again it will shine all alone, it’s nearest really bright neighbor half the sky away, shining in the southeastern sky. The planet is Jupiter, and it and Venus shine like two beacons in the night sky.

More on that later.

Atlantis Lands Safely

The space shuttle Atlantis landed yesterday at Edwards Air Force Base in California, ending a nearly 14 day mission to the International Space Station. They added some truss segments to the station, along with some new solar arrays giving the station more power. This paves the way for new modules to be installed later this year.

Arriving back with Atlantis was astronaut Suni Williams, who had spend more than six months aboard ISS. Her time is space of over 190 days makes her the holder of the longest duration record of any woman, breaking the record of Shannon Lucid over ten years ago.

Locally, we have the Community Media Center to thank, as they broadcast NASA-TV on local cable channel 24 (Livewire). The GRAAA sponsors NASA-TV locally.

Welcome to Summer, and the SpaceWatch News

Hello everyone. Welcome to the SpaceWatch news service of the Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association.

Using this blog, we will be keeping you, the public, informed of various happenings in astronomy, and things to interest in the local astronomical community that will be of interest to the people of West Michigan.

There isn’t really a schedule of when things will be posted, so please visit often.

Today is the Summer Solstice, which means the first “official” day of summer for people living in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun - at its northernmost point in the sky today - will be 70.5 ° above the horizon from Grand Rapids. The “official time” of the solstice is 2.06pm EDT.