dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (08/27/85)
Tonight and Wednesday morning are good times to look for planets. More -- after this. August 27 Jupiter and the Moon, and Mercury in the Morning Tonight it's easy to find Jupiter -- the largest planet in the solar system. Look towards the southeast after the sun goes down. Jupiter is that bright point of light near the moon. Jupiter and its moons are like a miniature solar system. At least sixteen moons travel with the giant planet as it circles the sun. Just as with the planets and the sun, the closer a moon is to Jupiter, the faster the moon moves around the larger body. The moon nearest Jupiter orbits once in about seven hours. The jovian satellite farthest out takes more than two Earth-years to go once around Jupiter. The four small moons farthest from Jupiter travel the clockwise around the planet -- opposite to the counter-clockwise orbits of the other twelve. Astronomers think it's likely that these four moons once were asteroids -- captured by Jupiter's strong gravity. Again, you can see Jupiter tonight. It's the bright object near the moon. Wednesday morning you may be able to find the planet that travels nearest the sun, Mercury. Mercury is shy -- it never strays far from the sun in our sky. If you'll look towards the east tomorrow before sunrise, that brightest point of light is the planet Venus -- the second planet outward from the sun. Look below Venus -- down towards the eastern horizon -- and you may be able to spot Mercury just above the glare from the rising sun. So Tuesday night look for the biggest planet -- Jupiter -- near the moon. And Wednesday morning you may be able to glimpse Mercury -- the smallest planet visible to the naked eye. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin