Skywatch May & June 2007
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.
Jupiter, as seen from the Earth, is on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun, so as the Sun sets in the west Jupiter is rising in the east. Give Jupiter an hour or two to climb higher in the eastern sky and you will find it easy to locate this bright star-like object.
As the Sun gets lower and lower below the western horizon the sky will get darker and darker. After the Moon and bright planets, the bright stars are the next to appear. Nearby Saturn is Regulus which marks the heart of Leo, the Lion. Regulus is the period at the base of a backwards question mark.
The top of the question marks forms the lion’s head. A little higher in the sky a triangle made of fainter stars forms the lion’s hind quarters and tail. Leo is one of the twelve constellations, or groups of stars, which form a band which encircles the sky called the Zodiac. It is to the Zodiac that we must look to find the planets.
If you look in the area of the sky by Jupiter you will find another bright star, Anatares. As with Regulus, Anatares marks an animals’ heart, in this case the heart of Scorpius, the Scorpion. You should be able to find the Scorpion’s long tail and stinger. Some star groups do look something like their names -- most do not.
