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From SciTech Daily: Don’t Miss Prime Viewing of Mars-Jupiter Conjunction

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The next couple of nights will offer early-morning sky-watchers the opportunity to view our nearest planetary neighbors (going outward from the sun) appearing to be separated by only about the width of a full moon. The lunar phase will be new on May 30th, so moonlight will not interfere with viewing the Mars-Jupiter conjunction (weather conditions, on the other hand…)

Superimposed Hubble images of Jupiter and Mars. Credit: Jupiter: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), Mars: NASA/ESA, J. Bell (Cornell U.) and M. Wolff (SSI)

Rick Smith, of NASA, writes:

Most stargazers will have a prime viewing opportunity to observe the planets Jupiter and Mars draw incredibly close in the predawn sky on the nights of May 27-30.

Approximately 45 minutes before local sunrise, the two planets will appear 20 degrees or so above the horizon in the eastern-southeastern sky, against the constellation Pisces. This Mars-Jupiter conjunction will be visible, barring local weather issues, in the predawn hours each morning from May 27 to May 30. The conjunction will peak at 3:57 a.m. CDT on May 29.

“Planetary conjunctions traditionally have been more the stuff of astrology than serious astronomy, but they never fail to impress during observations, particular when the gas giants are involved,” said Mitzi Adams, an astronomer and researcher at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

During such a conjunction, two planets appear close together in Earth’s night sky. In the case of Earth’s solar system, conjunctions happen frequently because our sister planets travel around the Sun in a fairly similar ecliptic plane, often appearing to meet in our night sky despite being millions of miles away from one another.

At their closest point, Mars and Jupiter will be separated by no more than 0.6 degrees. Astronomers routinely use degrees to measure the angular distance between objects in the night sky. To observers on the ground, the distance between the two planets will be no more than the width of a raised finger, with Mars appearing just to the lower right of the massive gas giant.

Mars and Jupiter are millions of miles away from us, of course – more than 136 million miles will separate Earth and Mars at the time of the conjunction, with Jupiter nearly four times further away. Even so, Jupiter will be the far brighter of the two.

Adams and Sterling [NASA astronomers] look forward to spotting the planetary conjunction. “It’s thrilling to look up and recognize that these two worlds represent the breadth of NASA’s planned and potential goals for science and exploration,” Adams said. “As NASA prepares to send the first human explorers to the planet Mars, the possibilities could be virtually limitless for groundbreaking science discoveries among Jupiter’s fascinating moons.”

“This conjunction brings together two vastly different worlds, which both hold incredible promise to help us better understand our solar system, humanity’s place in the cosmos, and where we may be headed as a species,” Sterling added.

“Get outside before sunrise on May 29 and see them for yourself – and imagine all we’ve yet to learn from them,” he added.

SciTech Daily

Human explorers on Mars, long a science fictional vision, could soon become reality, according to NASA. How might this accomplishment affect our human cultural identity?

Comments
And if we are really lucky, the Tau Herculids meteor shower might be interesting as well. Midnight on the 30th.Pater Kimbridge
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