Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sisters at Dusk

The elusive Mercury is out for the next few days, right after dusk.  I've only seen it four times.  Copernicus allegedly never saw it (though this month's Sky and Telescope begs to differ).  Should be easy to find too, because of its proximity to Venus: draw a line between the sun and Venus and Mercury will be there.  Pretty, pretty, pretty.

7 comments:

Laurita said...

Very cool! I'll be watching.

Lil Hux said...

oh, shoot, this reminds me that the full moon was up on Monday and we missed it. Dang it! I saw mercury once, I believe, when the girls were really little.

Thanks for the cool info on your blog.

l hux

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

A message of love from the heavens, then?

;D

My Greek Mythology escapes me.


Scarlett & Viaggiatore

Fresca said...

Hm. I wondered why all of a sudden I've been obsessed with Queen--must be Freddie Mercury beaming down his rays!

I wonder if I'll be able to see the planet tonight, its last visibile night, in this light-blasted sky. I'll give it a look. Thanks for the tip.

Clowncar said...

Laurita: didja see them? We didn't. Venus yes, but Mercury remained buried in the haze of the horizon.

It's alright, Hucky, we'll catch the next one! And yes, we showed the girls Mercury once. They didn't care.

Nice thought, Scarlett: Venus and Mercury are in love!

Fresca - hope you had better luck than I. Mercury stayed hidden. Venus, at least will out in the evening for awhile. Makes me feel nice, just seeing it! I keep hearing people say the night sky makes them feel small. Makes me feel like part of something very large.

Fresca said...

Nope, it was a cloudy evening, but I liked knowing it was out there behind the clouds.

The night sky puts us in proper perspective. How we interpret that says a lot about who/how we are, I guess.
I still like that old chestnut, "You are a child of the universe."

Clowncar said...

Update: just saw Mercury tonight! Much dimmer than the brightly shining Venus, but there it was, pretty much where the picture shows (a little higher, maybe at a 45 degrees angle down from Venus).