Cards, flowers, chocolate... what's missing? The heavens. Spaceweather PHONE for Valentine's Day.
WEEKEND RINGS: This weekend Saturn is at its closest to Earth: 762 million miles. It thus looks bigger and brighter both to the naked eye and through a telescope than it will at any other time in 2007. Look for Saturn rising in the east at sunset and soaring nearly overhead at midnight: sky map.
TILTING PLANET: Observers who point a backyard telescope at Saturn (highly recommended) may notice that it doesn't look the same as it did last year. "The rings are tilting toward Earth," says amateur astronomer Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York. He has been photographing Saturn for years and made this movie of his observations between 2004 and 2007:
"The Slow Dance of Saturn" by Alan Friedman using a 10-inch telescope.
The changing aspect is due to a combination of geometric factors, mainly the tilt of Saturn's spin axis plus the orbital motion of Earth. Eventually, the rings will narrow so much that they briefly disappear before opening up again. The next ring plane crossing: Sept. 4, 2009. Meanwhile, the rings are uncovering Saturn's blue north pole--one more reason to look through a telescope this weekend.
VENUS PILLARS: Venus is so bright, it does things normally reserved for the Sun and Moon--such as sprouting pillars. John E. Cordiale of South Glens Falls, NY, took this picture on Jan. 24th:
Photo details: Canon 350D, Tamron 19-35mm lens, 800 iso, 30 seconds
"I was watching the sunset and noticed that Venus looked a little strange," says Cordiale. "I took some photos and found that Venus had pillars! In one image Venus was behind the clouds and the pillars were still visible."
Venus pillars, like Sun pillars and Moon pillars, are caused by flat, six-sided ice crystals fluttering down from high clouds. The crystals reflect light from their horizontal faces, spreading a single point of light into a luminous column.
Tonight, look for Venus pillars after sunset. And if you don't see any, let Mercury be your consolation prize: sky map.
BONUS: Last night P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden saw Venus pillars in a snow shower: image.