Pas de Cinq

It keeps getting better. Saw three of the four planets low on the horizon yesterday just after dusk. Venus was very bright, Mars and Saturn less so. Mercury was hiding in the glare of the setting sun. I'll look again tonight.

For the next few days they'll be joined by a sliver of a crescent moon, technically marking the beginning of Ramadan (more commonly it's marked by the new moon, but some say you have to actually SEE the crescent following the new moon). And the gravy: Venus and the crescent moon form a facsimile of the Islamic flag.

Actually, the flag is more accurately the facsimile of the actual thing. But you get the drift. Assalamu alaikum.

MORE GRAVY: as Artsparker points out, the Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight! Wait til after midnight, when you're on that part of the Earth that is plowing directly into the comet dust. Set your alarm.

Pas de Quatre

Nice twilight sky this weekend. A four planet dance.

Step outside. Feel the cool air on your skin, listen to the crickets. Look up.

AAA

That new header image is of Ida and Dactyl, an asteroid with its very own tiny moon.  I've always loved the photo.  Reminds me of a parent and child, bonded by gravity, rotating around a common center.  Plus, I didn't know asteroids could have moons. 

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A coupla cool comments about the photo in my last post (see below).  Margaret said it looked like a stellar semi-colon.  Laurita said her kid told her it looked like the moon was hanging by a thumbtack.  Nice.  I will never look at the Venus-moon pas de deux quite the same way again.

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Woke up at 4 a.m. yesterday to drive out just east of town and look for Comet McNaught.  Didn't find it.  It was oddly enjoyable still; I parked on a country road and cracked open a beer and scanned the sky right around Perseus with binoculars til the beer was gone.  Went home, went back to bed.  I'll look for it next month, after it's passed around the sun and is heading back out to its home in the Oort Cloud.

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The Mets have won 6 games straight.  A half a game outta first place.  Of course, this weekend we play the Evil Empire (the Yankees, for you uninitiated), so anything could happen.  We're also going to see a AAA ballgame on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day.  Free gloves to the first 1500 kids!  And we get to have a catch on the field before the game.  Big Fun.  Hot dogs will be involved. 

Balm

Bad photo. Lovely sight.

My favorite night skyscape is the crescent moon and Venus hanging in an evening sky. I like the rhythm of it, the way it occurs in bunches, Venus and crescent together for two or three nights in a row, then gone for a month, then back. And after a few months Venus will go away for awhile, loiter as a morning star for as long as a year. But it always comes back. And the whole dance begins again.

Had a long, difficult day yesterday. Being greeted by this sight at the end of it all made me better.

Free Show

Glorious crescent moon, Venus, Mercury grouping in the sky tonight.  Right after sunset.  

As a bonus, Gordo sez the possibility of aurora borealis is high tonight, due to a giant solar promenance.  So turn off your TV and step outside.

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.

Cycles

After that glorious Sunday of Barbie and baseball (see last post), every day of our week has started with tantrums and fights.

So. There's that.

Our eldest is not a happy girl. It is worrying.

Perhaps that is why I cling to the happy moments so.

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Venus is falling fast in the evening sky. A little lower every night. It'll be gone by the end of the month, and not return (as an evening star, anyway) until next year.

It is, of course, important to remember that it will return. As beautiful as ever.