dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (03/16/85)
There's a reason today and tomorrow to notice two planets -- Jupiter and Mercury. More -- after this. March 16 Jupiter and Mercury Two planets are doing something worth watching this weekend -- Jupiter and Mercury. Not that Jupiter and Mercury are even in the same part of the sky. Mercury is now in the evening sky -- and Jupiter appears before dawn. Still, Mercury is noteworthy now for being at the height of its best evening apparition for the year. In other words, it's now in the best place to be seen in the evening that it will be for all of 1985. Jupiter is doing something less rare -- but equally compelling. It's now visible in the predawn sky very near the waning crescent moon. You can see Mercury now due west after the sun goes down -- hanging just above the point where the sun sank below the horizon. There's another very bright object in the west after sunset. It's the planet Venus, which has been visible in the evening for many months. In another few weeks, Venus and Mercury will both dive into the sunset -- later to reappear in the predawn sky. For now, in the east before dawn, Jupiter is the brightest thing visible -- with the exception of the moon, currently visiting that part of the sky -- soon to make its own dive into the glare of dawn. Some of you might have seen Jupiter fairly near the moon before dawn on Saturday. On Sunday, it'll be an even prettier view, with the moon an even slimmer crescent. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin