Comets, Potential Auroras
For the past few months, our evening skies have been entirely devoid of bright planets, but that comes to an end during July.
Planets Light Morning Skies
The constellation Corona Borealis, known as the Northern Crown, is visible arcing just to the left of the foreground tree. The location of the recurrent nova, T Coronae Borealis, is indicated in red. If/when this star explodes, it may briefly become as bright as Alphecca, the star near the center of the crown's arc and the brightest star in Corona Borealis.
Our evening skies are almost totally devoid of bright planets during May and June. The planetary action has shifted entirely to the morning sky. The first planet to appear is Saturn, well up in the eastern sky during the pre-dawn hours and rising around midnight by the end of June.
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Total Eclipse of the Sun
Total eclipse of the sun on February 26, 1979, from Southern Manitoba, Canada. The sun’s extensive outer atmosphere—or corona—is visible, along with a couple of prominences—large loops of ionized gas. PHOTO BY ALAN HALE
The top celestial event during April will be the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8. The eclipse will be total—the moon will completely block the sun—along a path that crosses north-central Mexico and central Texas, then continues across the midwestern and northeastern U.S.
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Comets in the Night
The planetary show we’ve been enjoying in the evening sky since the latter part of 2023 still has a few more months to run, although only a few planets remain visible. The primary performer is Jupiter, which is high in the western sky at the end of dusk and sets an hour or so before midnight.
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Bright Constellations
Uranus, with its system of thin rings and several of its moons, as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope on February 6, 2023.
COURTESY NASA/ESA/CSA/SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE/JOSEPH DEPASQUALE
The planetary show we’ve been enjoying in the evening sky since the latter part of 2023 still has a few more months to run but loses one of its main performers during February.
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Heading Toward Venus
Heading Toward Venus
After being fixtures in our evening sky for several months earlier this year, our two nearest planets, Venus and Mars, have disappeared into the twilight.
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Hale to the Stars
Planets Moving Through the Sky
Our solar system’s two inner worlds put on a good show in our western skies during this month’s evening hours.The primary showpiece is Venus, which shines brilliantly in our west for up to two hours after the end of dusk.
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Flying Into The Final Frontier
Venus has now departed from our evening sky, but two other planets remain visible low in the dusk during August. During the first half of the month, Mercury can be seen close to the horizon, while Mars is slightly higher. The Red Planet disappears into twilight by month’s end, not to reappear in our morning sky until about six months from now.
Our solar system’s two largest worlds dominate the skies this month. Saturn, already in the southeast by the end of dusk, is at opposition directly opposite the sun in the sky August 26 and remains visible throughout the night.
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