Haipai's Blog

It’s a stellar planetary lineup when Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus and Jupiter take to the heavenly field.

As night falls, Venus and Mercury will be visible low on the western horizon. Venus is very bright, and Mercury seems dim. At week’s end, Venus begins to climb in the west, as Mercury, initially stationary, eventually sinks.

Venus loiters at an amazing negative third magnitude, very bright, while Mercury is at first magnitude.

Over in another quadrant are Saturn and Mars, Saturn high in the southeast and Mars high in the south. Saturn stays up all night. At midnight, it will be due south, and Mars will have moved west.

Both planets should be bright enough to see on clear nights.

Jupiter can now be seen just before dawn. Later this month, Jupiter becomes much more visible, rising earlier in a darker sky, a magnificent sight as it ascends in the east.

Stray meteors that may be spotted April 16-25 are probably Lyrids. The International Meteor Organization says the Lyrid meteor shower’s peak, probably weak, could occur April 22.

Down-to-Earth Events:

– Monday: “Supermassive Black Holes Feeding in a Galaxy Near You,” with astronomer Mike Koss, at an open house, University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. Telescope viewing afterward, weather permitting. Information: 301-405-6555; http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

– Monday: The early spring heavens with Jonathan Harmon, planetarium director, at “The Stars Tonight” at Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., next to Washington-Lee High School. $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and children. 7:30 p.m. Information: 703-228-6070; http://www.apsva.us/planetarium.

– Wednesday: Ronald Greeley, of Arizona State University, on “The Story of Martian Winds,” at the Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater, National Air and Space Museum. Free showing of “Blue Planet” at 6:30 p.m.; meet the lecturer at 7:30 p.m.; lecture at 8 p.m. Free admission but tickets are required. Information, http://www.nasm.si.edu/.

– Friday-April 25: “The Cowboy Astronomer,” a planetarium show, offers star stories with a Southwestern flavor, at the Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St. $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and children. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Sunday matinees at 1:30 and 3 p.m. Information: 703-228-6070; http://www.apsva.us/planetarium.

– Saturday: David J. Thompson of Goddard Space Flight Center on highlights from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope at the National Capital Astronomers meeting, University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m. http://www.capitalastronomers.org.

– April 15: Live from the Air and Space Museum, a webcast of the anniversary of Apollo 13, at 8 p.m. Speakers include Apollo 13 mission commander Jim Lovell and mission controller Gene Kranz discussing the historic mission. http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=1898.

– April 17: “Exploring the Sky” at Rock Creek Park, hosted by the National Capital Astronomers and the National Park Service. Meet near the Nature Center in the field south of Military and Glover roads NW. 8:30 p.m. http://www.nps.gov/rocr/planyourvisit/expsky.htm.

– April 17: “Space-time Invariance and Quantum Gravity” at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park. 7 p.m. http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/departments/planet.

– April 18: “Sidewalk Astronomy” at the Roosevelt Center in Greenbelt, near Crescent Road and Centerway. Hosted by the Astronomical Society of Greenbelt. 8 p.m. http://www.greenbeltastro.org.

– April 20: Astronomer Doug Hamilton on “Saturn’s Newest Ring,” at an open house, University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. Telescope viewing, weather permitting. Information: 301-405-6555. http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

– April 24: Star party hosted by the Astronomical Society of Greenbelt star party, at the observatory at Northway Fields Park in Greenbelt. 8:30 p.m. http://www.greenbeltastro.org.

Blaine P. Friedlander can be reached at postskywatch@gmail.com.

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This entry was posted on 星期一, 四月 5th, 2010 at 8:53 下午 and is filed under Global. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.