Sky Watch July & August 2008
Being on vacation is in the Virgin Islands is a time to relax and forget about the world beyond the beautiful sandy beaches and warn Caribbean water. But, how about a short vacation astronomy quiz? What is the name of the star closest to the Earth? The Sun! Question two, how far away is the Sun. If you answered 93 million miles (149.7 million km), you are right and wrong. The average distance of the Earth from the Sun is 93 million miles, but that is just the average. The Earth is closest to the Sun on July 4th when the Sun will be some 94.8 million miles (152.6 million kilometer) away.
As another beautiful Virgin Island day dissolves into a wonderful tropical night, high in the western night sky you can look for the red planet Mars. Mars is seen against the background of stars of the constellation Gemini, the Twins. Two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, mark the heads of the twin brothers. 
As another beautiful Virgin Island day dissolves into a wonderful tropical night, high in the western night sky you can look for the red planet Mars. Mars is seen against the background of stars of the constellation Gemini, the Twins. Two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, mark the heads of the twin brothers. 
Since it is winter in the northern hemisphere, most people think the Earth must be farther from the Sun. In fact, on January 2nd the Earth will be at its closest approach to the Sun for all of 2008, about 91,400,000 miles or 147,000,000 kilometers away. 
This time of this year the early evening’s western sky above the Virgin Islands is dominated by a bright star-like object. It is not a star at all, but the largest of all the planets, Jupiter. If you look slightly lower in the sky you will find a bright reddish star, but not as bright as Jupiter, this is Anatares, and it marks the heart of Scorpius, the Scorpion. Scorpius is one of the few star groups that looks anything at all like its name suggests. If you look slightly to the east from Antares and even lower near the horizon, you can spot s few stars that form the Scorpion’s body and long curved tail.
Looking toward the western horizon just after sunset may give you a glimpse of two planets, the one slightly higher and much brighter is Venus and lower and fainter is Saturn. They both will be setting very shortly after the Sun so they may be hard to see in the glare of sunset. Once the sky grows dark, look high in the southeastern sky and you will easily spot the largest of all the planets, Jupiter. Jupiter looks like a bright star-like object, somewhat yellowishwhite in color.
Once the beautiful Virgin Island Sun has set in the west and the sky begins to grow dark, look toward the western sky and you will easily spot two planets. Closer to the horizon and very bright is Venus. Somewhat higher in the sky is Saturn. While these two planets are millions of miles away from the Earth (and each other), during May-June they will close together as seen from the Earth. Additionally, they will be joined by our closest neighbor in space, the Moon. On May 19th the crescent moon will appear only 1 degree from the planet Venus and then early in the evening of May 22nd the Moon will be seen near Saturn. On the evening of June 30th Venus and Saturn will appear less than one degree from each other.
