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Night Sky Map and Planets Visible Tonight

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Re: Night Sky Map and Planets Visible Tonight

#11

Post by jointpdf »

mattcwilson wrote: post #9
gorgoiler wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a look tomorrow and tell me they aren’t kind of lined up again. It’s very exciting to see this at sunset. Tilt your head so that the solar system is flat and you can truly feel that you are on the side of a sphere with the sun in the middle and the planets in the plane. Venus is coming towards you (looking down on the system, the planets rotate counter clockwise.) Try to imagine what that will look like in the s…

Isn’t “down” in space “towards the nearest/strongest gravity well?” I’m surmising that what you mean is, if you headed towards Polaris far enough to get perspective on the entire solar system, then from that vantage point the orbits are counterclockwise?

All of the planets orbit the sun on approximately the same plane (since we started as a swirling pancake of gas and dust that eventually snowballed into planets, and then you and me). It looks like this: https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/photos/000/285/2...

If the orbital plane was a surface of water and the northern hemisphere is bobbing above the water, then up is perpendicular to the plane (away from the water, looking down on the top of Earth).

Re: Night Sky Map and Planets Visible Tonight

#12

Post by destitude »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #2

Coincidental timing (or maybe not?). On my walk tonight, I noticed that Saturn and Jupiter were super bright

You are probably referring to Jupiter and Venus which are super bright. Venus being the brighter one. Saturn is considerably less bright but still visible and lines up between Venus and Jupiter.

Re: Night Sky Map and Planets Visible Tonight

#13

Post by detritus »

jointpdf wrote: post #11
mattcwilson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t “down” in space “towards the nearest/strongest gravity well?” I’m surmising that what you mean is, if you headed towards Polaris far enough to get perspective on the entire solar system, then from that vantage point the orbits are counterclockwise?

All of the planets orbit the sun on approximately the same plane (since we started as a swirling pancake of gas and dust that eventually snowballed into planets, and then you and me). It looks like this: https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/photos/000/285/2... If the orbital plane was a surface of water and the northern hemisphere is bobbing above the water, then up is perpendicular to the plane (away from the…

I can't believe I was {HOWEVER OLD I AM NOW} when I learnt that the Moon is 'upside down' when seen from the Southern Hemisphere. I mean, of course it would be - but I'd never made that deductive leap.

Made me feel like a fool, especially given I made my at-the-time pregnant partner crease her nose in not-quite-credulous but also sorta-believing suspicion when I told her that the Japanese don't see a Man in the Moon, rather a Rabbit, because on that side of the Earth they see the opposite side of the moon. I could only maintain the pretense for a few minutes before she scolded me :)

Re: Night Sky Map and Planets Visible Tonight

#15

Post by eesmith »

detritus wrote: post #13
jointpdf wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of the planets orbit the sun on approximately the same plane (since we started as a swirling pancake of gas and dust that eventually snowballed into planets, and then you and me). It looks like this: https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/photos/000/285/2... If the orbital plane was a surface of water and the northern hemisphere is bobbing above the water, then up is perpendicular to the plane (away from the…

I can't believe I was {HOWEVER OLD I AM NOW} when I learnt that the Moon is 'upside down' when seen from the Southern Hemisphere. I mean, of course it would be - but I'd never made that deductive leap. Made me feel like a fool, especially given I made my at-the-time pregnant partner crease her nose in not-quite-credulous but also sorta-believing suspicion when I told her that the Japanese don't see a Man in the Moon,…

It was odd to see Orion doing a handstand!

And I got lost on a car trip, thinking the midday Sun was in the south. Good thing I was a back-seat passenger.

Re: Night Sky Map and Planets Visible Tonight

#16

Post by em-bee »

gorgoiler wrote: post #7
Tempest1981 wrote: post #6

Is this what we missed? > LOOK UP! Rare space event tonight as Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Moon line up - how to see > https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1533360/space-news-as...

Have a look tomorrow and tell me they aren’t kind of lined up again. It’s very exciting to see this at sunset. Tilt your head so that the solar system is flat and you can truly feel that you are on the side of a sphere with the sun in the middle and the planets in the plane. Venus is coming towards you (looking down on the system, the planets rotate counter clockwise.) Try to imagine what that will look like in the s…

i have been observing the planets line up for a few weeks now. i never noticed before. yesterday i tried your suggestion, and yes, i could really sense where i was on earth in relation to the other planets and stars.

suddenly it became obvious how the latitude is calculated based on the position of stars

obviously as the outer planets are slower to move around the sun, so they are going to stay in that position for some time to come. pluto is there too, if you have the telescope to see it.

venus joined the group a few weeks ago, mercury caught up this week and mars will follow in january and somehow they all seem to be staying in the neighborhood until next summer.

so if i interpret this right, there should soon be an opportunity to see all our planets at once.

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