The Starry Dance
Did you get a chance to peer out early this morning to see a spectacular event in the easter sky? Jupiter & Venus are converging and were at peek viewing before dawn this morning. However, if you missed it, you will have a chance to see the starry dance again over the next few days. I'm afraid my feeble pictures don't do it justice by any means...sorry, these low res files barely show the stars. Plus, I didn't take them until 7am, so they had already begun to give way to sunrise.
Check out this link @ Space.com or this Nasa link for general info. Also...A few days ago I received an email from Rick Larson, the producer of the DVD: The Star of Bethlemhem. (the one I gave away before Christmas) Here are a few excerpts from his email...
"This event will be impressive from today until about Monday, February 4, with the closest approach of the planets occurring on Friday, February 1. Enjoy! They say "close only counts in horseshoes and kisses". But here's a pretty cool near miss!
For the next few days you can go out in your own yard and see an event similar to the Star of Bethlehem. Depending upon weather (and sleep habits), you may be able to see a close approach of Jupiter and Venus. Great viewing for the next few days.
To see this spectacle, you'll need to look to the eastern sky just before dawn. Depending upon the terrain where you stand, you may first see the paired stars rising in the east around 5.40a. They'll appear later if there are trees or other obstructions on your horizon. The show will continue until the Sun rises and washes everything out around 7.30a. So there's a good viewing window for many of you, even if you're not normally early risers. Do take a look! You'll probably be out of bed by 7 anyway, so go outside!
Now, how does this compare to the Star of Bethlehem? Here are some helpful units, starting with what you already know, but moving to things you probably DON'T know:
A full circle = 360 degrees
Visible sky = around 180 degrees
Width of a finger held at armslength = about 2 degrees
One degree = 60 arcminutes
Resolving power of unaided human eye = about 3 arcminutes
One arcminute = 60 arcseconds
With that background. You'll see this clearly! On February 1, the planets will be separated by around 35 acrminutes. The resolving power of the unaided human eye is about 3 arcminutes, so they will appear very close, but still separable. The 2 BC Star of Bethlehem occurred when the two planets came within about 35 arcSECONDS of one another. About 60 times closer! The two became inseparable by even the best human eyes."
"This event will be impressive from today until about Monday, February 4, with the closest approach of the planets occurring on Friday, February 1. Enjoy! They say "close only counts in horseshoes and kisses". But here's a pretty cool near miss!
For the next few days you can go out in your own yard and see an event similar to the Star of Bethlehem. Depending upon weather (and sleep habits), you may be able to see a close approach of Jupiter and Venus. Great viewing for the next few days.
To see this spectacle, you'll need to look to the eastern sky just before dawn. Depending upon the terrain where you stand, you may first see the paired stars rising in the east around 5.40a. They'll appear later if there are trees or other obstructions on your horizon. The show will continue until the Sun rises and washes everything out around 7.30a. So there's a good viewing window for many of you, even if you're not normally early risers. Do take a look! You'll probably be out of bed by 7 anyway, so go outside!
Now, how does this compare to the Star of Bethlehem? Here are some helpful units, starting with what you already know, but moving to things you probably DON'T know:
A full circle = 360 degrees
Visible sky = around 180 degrees
Width of a finger held at armslength = about 2 degrees
One degree = 60 arcminutes
Resolving power of unaided human eye = about 3 arcminutes
One arcminute = 60 arcseconds
With that background. You'll see this clearly! On February 1, the planets will be separated by around 35 acrminutes. The resolving power of the unaided human eye is about 3 arcminutes, so they will appear very close, but still separable. The 2 BC Star of Bethlehem occurred when the two planets came within about 35 arcSECONDS of one another. About 60 times closer! The two became inseparable by even the best human eyes."
(Thanks to Bee for the NASA link ;-)
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News/Politics
4 comments:
Wow - that is so interesting! I'm going to have to jump out of bed early on Saturday (those aren't words I say very often LOL!) to see if I can see this!
Thanks for the info!
Thanks for the sweet comment on my blog - it's fun to share the grandmother experience with someone else. It has been the most amazing time!
I guess I missed this. Not so sure what anyone could see here as it's been snowing like blazes again! I even got out of work early because no one was coming in to the office...woohoo, another day at home!
I got a feeble pic too Diane... I just grabbed the camera at 6:30am and dawn had already begun.
I didn't realized this was the same planets that came together to form the Bethlehem star!
Very interesting... I also noticed almost no one said anything about the crescent moon and Antares (the red star) being close to one another also... not as close.. but it was still a pretty sight!
One has to wonder if there is some symbolism somewhere.
Love, Bee
wow! that's pretty incredible. thanks for sharing the information. and the photos are cool, too.
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