Friday 30th July, 2010
Saturn
The spectacular planet Saturn is in Virgo , it appears very low in the west around sunset, sinking into the western horizon. Unfortunately Saturn’s icy rings have been keeping themselves elusive for a long time. They show a nearly edge on profile to us, keeping the spectacular view of their surface hidden, but later in the year this changes for the better. Saturn passed full opposition way back on the 22nd of March and so it’s brightness and angular size have been gradually decreasing.
Tonight Saturn’s magnitude is 1.26, it’s angular size is 15.2″, and eventually sets in the west at 22.50 pm (GMT+1) …(check out the eastern horizon, as around this time Jupiter will be rising)
Coordinates for Saturn tonight, RA 12h, 06m/ DEC 1, 44 ‘
Saturn’s moon Titan is the brightest satellite of the gas giant at magnitude 9.11, followed by Rhea at magnitude 10.45 .
How long will it be around for? Over the coming weeks Saturn will continue to be visible, but will slowly move lower and lower in the west, while getting smaller and dimmer. It is now on the western horizon at dusk, and by September it will have disappeared from view. (The first week in August also sees a nice close grouping of Saturn, Mars, and Venus). Being deprived of a good view of the spectacular rings for so long you’ll be glad to see them opening out again from October, while Saturn’s angular size gets bigger, and it becomes brighter. By this time Saturn will be a morning planet in the east.
Mars
The planet Mars has now joined Saturn in the constellation Virgo, Mars puts on a good pace and has moved quickly from Leo into Virgo. You should be able to catch Mars very low in the west, even lower than Saturn in the sky as the Sun sets. Mars like Saturn is decreasing in brightness and angular size.
Tonight Mars’ magnitude is 1.47, it’s angular size is 4.7″, and it sets in the west at 22.39 (GMT+1)
Coordinates for Mars tonight, RA 12h, 2m/ DEC 0, 12′
How long will it be around for? As we move through summer Mars will sink towards the western horizon, in the same vicinity of the sky as Saturn. You’ll see it well before midnight (GMT+1)during the light nights of summer, just above the western horizon. You will still be able to see it during August, but it will probably be out of sight by September. As Mars makes it’s way through summer and eventually out of sight, it will continue to get smaller and dimmer in the sky.
Venus
You just can’t miss Venus, you will see it blazing in the west after the Sun has set. It becomes obvious as the sky gets darker, looking like a big and very bright star. You’ll see it sinking towards the horizon as the evening progresses, where it eventually sets in the west. Venus, “Earth’s evil twin” is the third brightest object after the Sun and the Moon, that’s why it has the power to punch through the evening sky glow. If you can get away from the light pollution to a dark place, the sight of this dazzling planet hanging low over the tree tops is quite a sight. As you see it in the sky Venus looks very big and bright, but amazingly it’s actually on the other side of the Sun from us !
Tonight Venus‘s magnitude is -4.08 with an angular size of 19.7“, it sets at 22.25 pm (GMT+1)
Coordinates for Venus tonight, RA 11h, 32m/ DEC 3, 13′
How long will it be around for? You have plenty of time to see Venus, it will be visible until about the middle of September. After this time it will disappear into the evening twilight. But up to this point you will see it get even brighter (mag -4.4), and increase in angular size (34″).
Mars, Saturn and Venus on western horizon 8th August 2010, approx 9.50 pm.
Jupiter
Jupiter is up and coming planet as far as observing goes, as Mars and Saturn are on their way out of sight. You can’t really miss the gas giant, you’ll see it shining very brightly in the east. Jupiter first made it’s come back as an early morning planet a few months ago, but is now visible before midnight rising in the east. Jupiter will rise earlier and earlier each night during the coming weeks.
Jupiter rises in the east at 22.53 am (GMT+1), with a magnitude of -2.54, and an angular size of 45.6
Coordinates for Jupiter tonight, RA 0h, 14m/ DEC 0, 0′
How long will it be around for? As Jupiter has been rising earlier and earlier, it has now moved from an very early morning planet to a more convenient evening planet. By mid August Jupiter will be rising in the east at 9.30 pm (GMT+1). It will continue growing in angular size and brightness, and by mid September the biggest of the planets with it’s collection of four main moons will be at opposition, with a magnitude of -2.78, and angular size 49″. It will then be visible in the evening sky until March 2011.
The ice giants
Uranus and Neptune are more of a challenge to observe than the inner planets like Mars and Venus, and you will need a larger telescope to even see them. You will not see them with the naked eye.
Uranus
Uranus from Hubble
Uranus is near a convenient marker point at the moment, being just a few degrees northwest of dazzling Jupiter as it rises in the east before midnight. Uranus, the coldest planet in the solar system will get closer and closer to to Jupiter from our vantage point, over the coming months. The last week in September sees Uranus passing just half a degree north of a large and very bright Jupiter, in the south east sky.
Tonight Uranus rises in the east at 22.44, with magnitude is 5.78, and a diameter of 3.6
Tonight’s coordinates for Uranus are RA 0h, 02m/ DEC -0, 34′
How long will it be around for? The ice giant is an outer planet at a large distance, and so moves slowly across the sky from our perspective. It will stay near Jupiter in the sky for the forseeable future, being available for viewing until around the end of January 2011.
Neptune
Neptune is the outermost planet and lives 30 times further out from the Sun than the Earth. It’s striking blue colour comes from frozen methane high up in it’s atmosphere. You’ll definitely need a telescope for this ice giant, as only Pluto is further. Neptune is in Aquarius, moving slowly in the direction of Capricornus. It rises around 50 minutes before it’s sister ice planet Uranus. Just as it going dark Neptune is rising in the east getting to it’s highest point in the sky in the early hours in the south.
Tonight Neptune rises in the east at 21.50 (GMT+1), with a magnitude of 7.83, and a angular size of 2.4
Tonight’s coordinates for Neptune are RA 22h, 0m/ DEC -12′ 40
How long will it be around for? Neptune will be available in the night sky for some time. It will be in the south through autumn and the first part of winter, eventually sinking towards the western horizon and disappearing into the evening sky glow by the end of January 2011. Up to this time Neptune will decrease very slightly in angular size to 2.2, while getting around 1 magnitude dimmer. The autumn and winter will see brilliant Jupiter dominating the darker skies, over shadowing the outer solar system wanderers, Uranus and Neptune. While Jupiter will be amazing, why not challenge yourself with the ice giants as well !!
This is great ..thanks for all the detail it sure does make the night sky more interesting when it is explained this way , were to find the planets and at what times etc ….pity its the height of summer and the hills behind me to the west block off the setting sun and the planets at this time of year…and it stays light till very late here in the uk..so its difficult to see them sinking in the west after sunset…but i av grt views everywer else so come the autumn and winter time night will darken much earlier and i will get some grt viewing….once again thanks for the grt info got this added to my favs ….Phil
Thanks for the comments Phil, glad you like the site…
Pity about your views of the planets blocked off, although you can’t have missed brilliant Venus lately. Mars, Saturn, and Venus are all slowly coming together and by the middle to the end of July make a very nice and close conjunction in the west. But they’ll be virtually bang on the horizon in a fairly bright sky after the Sun sets, so viewing them might be tricky.
You’ve always got Jupiter in the east rising around 1am, if you fancy staying up late to see it. Although Jupiter is appearing earlier and earlier as each night passes, making much more convenient viewing times around August.
…and from now on the nights start drawing in
hi Betelgeuse
thanks for the reply….sad to say i av missed the planets mars venus and saturn ..1. because of the houses and 2. we always seem to have very cloudy skies at moment.. i bought my new sky watcher telescope over a month ago and i still avnt managed to av a look thru it yet because of the skies so darn cloudy and if not cloudy its very hazy and only see the brightess stars…but things will improve they usually do and as u say the nights drawing in will help…thanks i enjoy the pages ere grt info and grt reading..Phil
Hi Phil,
Yeah not great weather for sky watching lately. If Mars, Saturn, and Venus aren’t on view then you just can’t miss Jupiter rising in the east not long before midnight. That’s the one to watch, it will show it’s moons even in binoculars.
Have fun with your new scope, and thanks for the comments!
wow amazing write-ups
am totaly new to sky watching. i have a telescope with optmum veiwing of x75 will i see much with this?? please help
Hi Jason, thanks for the comment.
Yes, but it’s important to remember that in astronomy aperture counts far more than magnification. The size of your mirror or lens is the thing that catches all the light, so the larger the lens or mirror then the more light it will catch letting you see more detail, and more distant objects. Conmmon apertures for reflecting telescopes are 4,6, 8, and 10 inch diameter mirrors…all really good, but you’ll see more with a bigger aperture.
Binoculars are great too for scanning the the Milky Way and looking at the Moon, I had a pair of 20×80 ones. They were large, but perfect for astronomy as they caught lots of light.
Regards
Hey! My husband and i actually are very much fascinated about our universe, My wife and i like to finally start looking only to our stars at the entire overnight time. Here are undoubtedlya great number of planets now of our own sun system and even amazing extremely more through that complete galaxy.Possibly can any person say my family and me lots of attractive web sites just where we in many cases can free download a handful of motion pictures and also shots? It would most likely be extremely fantastic obviously if everybody come with a handful of good informations available for me personally.
ps…im looking out my window now…guess wat? its solid grey cloud so another nite i cant view anything …so sad my new scope still thinks its on the shelf in the shop lol
i no how you feel Phil. i been trying to catch the odd momment between the clouds. but not easy.
i belive we are in for some nice weatherin the comming weeks so fingers crossed
Well i`m keepin fingers ,toes,eyes crossed…this looks like it will be the first clear nite since i bought my telescope ….its 20:02 still awhile be4 it actually goes dark so anything could change by then , but i`m hopefull …it cooler so the air is clear and that means the sky will be a lot clearer too…am i getting excited..you bet ..roll on the darkness…i wont be able to see mars, saturn or venus..as i av said b4 the houses behind me totally block my view west…but everything that rises in the east and there after till they hit the house in the west well i av grt viewing..jupiter shud be grt if the sky stays clear ..maybe look in the milky way too and see if i can spot uranus with the new scope….i hope its clear wer you all are and i hope you get some good viewing….cant believe how blue the sky is at mo, i do hope it stays this way till well after dark…all the best to you all happy sky hunting..Phil
hi jason i hope you too get clear skies i`m nr Blackpool UK and as i said previously its looking good for a good show tonite …keep in touch tell me how you do and i`ll tell you how it was for me and wat i got to see in the skies if it stays clear lol…Phil
im livin down in cornwall. i like you have no veiw west so depend on anything coming from the east too.
had a good veiw of the good old moon and jupitor and its moons. im new to this so still keeping to the basic’s as not sure where to be looking for differant things like uranus.
how was your night. any tips you could give me? i am looking at getting some differant eye lens as i only have a 20mm and a 4mm son see there lots inbetween.
himeveryone…well after all the excitement of a clear sky…darn wud u believe it as it was getting dark it clouded over ….argggggg talk about frustration…i saw the moon low in the sw naked eye view and sadly watch it go behind the clouds so that was my night goosed again…went to bed slept like a log …lol…well tonite is very clear though still sunny 18:58 at moment so long time b4 it gets dark..but i feel optmistic that tonite is the nite when i get the cover of my star watcher reflector 130 and put it to some real good use..so for now i read thru this site and wait for dark…..Jason i hope you get a clear nite too…keep everything crossed that it stays clear…will let ya know tomorrow if it did …happy viewing folks…Phil….ps there is so much fab reading and info on ere grt pages grt site …
hi jason …not a grt nite it clouded over as it was goin dark..but tonite looks very hopeful..its very clear been a beautiful day up ere….tips ..well jason like you i`m still a beginner really though i av been stargazing for many years..i`m sorta a point and look ..i tend to find a constellation then look around it for a while see wat i can see ..i make a note and then usin a well detailed star map etc ..i can look it up and say wooo i just been looking at that …then i move to the next ..if the planets are in view i will tend to spend time looking at them see wat i can see etc….i will also use this site as a guide too…av fun let me know wat you view ..likewise from me..i hope i can tell u tomorrow if i see anything tonite ..Phil
hi everyone…well after all the excitement of a clear sky…darn wud u believe it as it was getting dark it clouded over ….argggggg talk about frustration…i saw the moon low in the sw naked eye view and sadly watch it go behind the clouds so that was my night goosed again…went to bed slept like a log …lol…well tonite is very clear though still sunny 18:58 at moment so long time b4 it gets dark..but i feel optmistic that tonite is the nite when i get the cover of my star watcher reflector 130 and put it to some real good use..so for now i read thru this site and wait for dark…..Jason i hope you get a clear nite too…keep everything crossed that it stays clear…will let ya know tomorrow if it did …happy viewing folks…Phil….ps there is so much fab reading and info on ere grt pages grt site …