Saw all three last night with my wife and granddaughter. Tonight I stopped for a while on my way home to watch them appear. Venus first, then Jupiter above and to the left, finally Mercury above and to the right. It appeared to be an almost perfect equilateral triangle. The weather should be clear again tomorrow night. I could barely get all three in the field of my binoculars, I'll take out my bigger pair tomorrow.
Paul in PA
now that I have a smart phone, I have the Sky Week app from Sky and Telescope that is nice celestial news almanac. They have been calling it the Venus, Mercury and Jupiter dance in the Western sky. Also, Saturn rings have a good viewing angle now and it is easily found above in the South sky
I also have the "Star Walk" app which is a real time viewer. I use it on late evening dog walks since Feb and have re-learned all the major stars and all of the constellations plus keeping track of anything above me like planets and satellites..
Venus, Jupiter And Mercury, Ordered By Brightness
After the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the most visible common celestial sight.
After Venus was visible to the naked eye it was a 5 minute wait for Jupiter and about the same wait for Mercury.
I seldom can pick out Mercury in the night sky, Mars, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter being my typical viewing.
Paul in PA
> Saw all three last night with my wife and granddaughter. Tonight I stopped for a while on my way home to watch them appear. Venus first, then Jupiter above and to the left, finally Mercury above and to the right. It appeared to be an almost perfect equilateral triangle. The weather should be clear again tomorrow night. I could barely get all three in the field of my binoculars, I'll take out my bigger pair tomorrow.
>
> Paul in PA
I took a picture of it last night from my front yard in Florida.
Nicepic.
earlier in the year Jupiter was very bright in the Western sky while Venus was below the horizon.
Saturn has been pretty spectacular lately in the shadow of the moon.
My son has an 8" Orion dobby and would love to see it. But the weather has different ideas. I think we are working on another 6" of rain.
Steve
Venus, Jupiter And Mercury, Ordered By Brightness
> I seldom can pick out Mercury in the night sky,
You never will.
Because it orbits so tight around the sun, you will only see it at sunrise or sunset.
:sun:
