The Planets for October 2008

        Elusive Mercury passes between the Earth and the Sun on the 6th of October after which it will become a morning sky object. It will reach its greatest angular distance from the Sun on the 22nd but will still be hard to spot as it rises only 39 minutes before the sun and will be low in the morning twilight.

     Setting 90 minutes after the Sun at the beginning of October, Venus is very easy to find high in the western sky after sunset. It begins the month in Libra, crossing into Scorpio on the 18th and into Ophiuchus on the 25th where it will remain for the rest of the month. The thin crescent Moon will pass by Venus on the 2nd.

     Mars is heading for a rendezvous with the Sun on December 5th and is hard to spot low in the western evening twilight. It can be found 11 degrees to the west of Venus on the 1st of the month but the pair will move slowly apart as October progresses. By the end of the month it will probably be too close to the Sun to be safely observed.

   Still shining brightly among the stars of Sagittarius, the king of the planets stands out against the background stars. It can be found high in the western sky after the Sun sets and will be joined by the first quarter Moon on the 7th of the month.

   The ringed planet rises less than an hour before the Sun at the beginning of October but it will be best left until later in the month before attempting to find it. The waning crescent Moon will be close to the planet on the 25th making it a little easier to identify.

7th	15th	21st	29th

The Planets for November 2008

       Very hard to spot this month as Mercury is low in the morning twilight. On November 26th it passes on the opposite side of the Sun to the Earth. It will not be visible in the evening twilight sky until late December.

    High above the western horizon after the Sun sets, Venus stands out against the evening twilight sky. It will be joined by a three day old crescent Moon on the 1st of the month and will be within 2 degrees of Jupiter on the 30th. At the beginning of the month it will be in the constellation Ophiuchus and moves into Sagittarius on the 9th. On the 17th will be less than quarter of a degree from Lambda Sagittarii, the star that marks the top of the lid of the "teapot". (The pattern formed by the bright stars of Sagittarius).

    Much too close to the Sun to be observed this month as it sets just after the Sun and will return to the early morning sky in January.

  On the 3rd and 4th of the month Jupiter is joined by the waxing crescent Moon high in the western evening sky. It will be accompanied by Venus at the end of the month and will make a fine pair among the stars of Sagittarius.

  Saturn remains in the constellation Leo and rises at around 2.30am. The angle of its rings is getting narrower and they will appear to disappear altogether in May 2009. It will be joined by the waning crescent Moon on the 22nd of the month.
 

6th	13th	20th	28st

The Planets for December 2008

       At the beginning of December, Mercury is too close to the Sun to be safely observed. By the 29th it will be very close to Jupiter low in the western early evening twilight when the pair will be joined by a two day old crescent Moon.

     High in the western evening sky after sunset, Venus is very close to the planet Jupiter at the start of December. It spends the first seven days in Sagittarius before it crosses into Capricornus. A three day old crescent moon will join the two planets on the 1st of the month. For those of you with reasonable sized telescopes, the planet Neptune will be less than 1.5 degrees to the north of Venus on the 27th of the month and visible as a small blue disc against the background stars.

    The Sun is at its most southerly position at -23.5 degrees on the 21st when the days in the southern hemisphere are the longest. Because the Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a circle but an ellipse there are times when the Earth in its orbit is nearer the Sun than at others. This occurs around the 2nd and 3rd of January each year.

     Passing behind the Sun on the 6th of December, Mars will not be visible until late January when it will rise in the early morning sky just before sunrise.

  Close to Venus on the 1st of the month, Jupiter is high in the western evening sky at sundown and will set just three hours after the sun. Even binoculars will show its four brightest moons which were first observed by Galileo in 1609. The year 2009 is the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first look at the heavens through a telescope and has been designated the International Year of Astronomy.

  The ringed planet rises 3.5 hours before the sun as December begins and can still be found among the stars of the constellation Leo-The Lion where it will remain for the rest of the month. By the 17th it will be rising just before midnight.

6th	13th	19th	27th

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