ASTRONOMY: Get up early to observe the planets align — and switch places

FOR THE EARLY BIRDS: All through the coming week, our morning stars will perform for us by lining up in a row: Venus, Mercury, and following at the end, Saturn. By the 20th Mercury will be closing in on Saturn. The 21st, they have switched places, Saturn is now above Mercury. The 22nd finds all the ducks in a row, Venus, Saturn, then Mercury but wait, what is this? Off to the lower left of Venus is the waning Moon shining at 1.6% illuminated. The next morning the Moon is out of the lineup but the planets stay in place. It just might be worth getting up a little early each AM just to watch the changes.

By RYC RIENKS

One way to understand the various objects in space is to watch what they do. This process, over thousands of years, led to the conclusion that we here on Earth were part of a family of objects circling the Sun, part of a solar system. As the astronomer's tools improved so did the understanding of our neighbors.

Looking down, instead of up, planetary scientists had a wealth of information at their feet, literally. We look to Earth to understand the planets. We occupy a stoney/iron planet. It turns out that the solar system is divided between stoney planets and gas giants.

The stoney, or terrestrial, planets are gathered in the inner solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.

The gas giants — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — form the outer planets.

(I leave Pluto out of the discussion as its acceptance as a planet has been called into question of late).

With Earth's favored position, relative to the Sun and the other planets, we look out at the other terrestrials and the giants as they move through our sky. Here's a review of the planets currently visible to the eye:

Mercury, only slightly larger than our moon, is a challenge to locate even though it is a magnitude -1.0. This week it rises above the eastern horizon in the morning behind Venus and shortly before the sun.

Venus is always a spectacular sight. Currently it is our morning star shining a brilliant magnitude -3.8 low to the east. Like a mama duck it leads a it's companions higher each morning in a line of brightest to faintest.

Saturn completes the early morning lineup, tagging along behind Mercury. Showing at magnitude 0.4 it would be pretty bright in a dark sky but approaching dawn might make it hard to pick out.

Jupiter takes on the role of evening star, west of south and close to the horizon by 10:00 PM. It shines at magnitude -1.9 and is a standout even low in the sky. You will notice, should you check at the same time each evening, that Jupiter is lower each night until lost from view.

For the hard-core observer there are two more evening planets that take more care and a decent telescope to pick out - our outermost (less Pluto) companions in space:

Uranus, 2858.8 million kilometers from earth, shines at magnitude 5.7. This means it requires a dark night with little light pollution to spot with the eye. As the faintest star we can see by eye, when it is especially dark out, is a magnitude 6 to 6.5 you can imagine the difficulty in finding Uranus. A star chart of some sort and binoculars at the least would aid it the search. Referring to your star chart you will find Uranus in Aquarius, 1.9 degrees below and left of 73 Lambda Aqr.

Neptune, the God of the sea, lends his name to this giant planet but at least we can verify Neptune the planet does exist. Like a valuable gem, Neptune hides in the night sky awaiting discovery some 4346.3 million kilometers from us. Since it is a magnitude 7.8 it is not visible to the naked eye. This week, should you take up the gauntlet, you will have to find the constellation Capricorn, then carefully locate 32 Iota Cap. Above and left 1.2 degrees is Neptune. A 3.5 inch scope at 48 power will show a magnitude 7 star. For a 7.8 planet the key is not necessarily more power but more aperture. That means the front end should be, probably, four inches or better and you must have quality optics. Pretty hard-core, indeed.

If you are local to Baker City and want assistance with your telescope contact the paper and we will try to help you get the most possible from it.

One final note — all through the coming week, our morning stars will perform for us by lining up in a row: Venus, Mercury, and following at the end, Saturn. By the 20th Mercury will be closing in on Saturn. The 21st, they have switched places, Saturn is now above Mercury. The 22nd finds all the ducks in a row, Venus, Saturn, then Mercury but wait, what is this? Off to the lower left of Venus is the waning Moon shining at 1.6% illuminated. The next morning the Moon is out of the lineup but the planets stay in place. It just might be worth getting up a little early each AM just to watch the changes.