dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (03/22/85)
There are planets and the moon low in the west after sunset this weekend. More -- after this. March 22 Planets and the Moon The planets Mercury and Venus are now relatively close to Earth -- on the same side of the sun. On April 3, these two inner worlds -- both moving faster in orbit than the Earth -- will pass in between us and the sun. Then, Mercury and Venus will be impossible to see -- drowned in the glare that lies in the direction of our mother star. But for now both worlds are still visible in the west just after sunset. And now the moon is back in that part of the sky, too -- a crescent in the twilight sky. The moon will be hard to see Friday evening -- but worth TRYING to see -- since it'll be a smaller crescent Friday than on Saturday or Sunday. On Friday, just after sunset, the moon will be below and to the left of Mercury and Venus. They'll all be very low in the western twilight sky. If you miss them on Friday, try Saturday or Sunday evening. Besides Mercury and Venus, the planet Mars is also in that part of the sky -- and Saturday evening the moon will be higher up in the west -- appearing between Mars and the other two planets. Then Sunday, the moon will have moved again. It always moves toward the east in our sky, since it orbits in that direction around Earth. On Sunday, the moon will appear just above Mars. All in all, that makes this weekend a good time to check out a clear western sky shortly after sunset -- for Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the crescent moon. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin