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Moon, planets line up for a show
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You may have seen the planets near the moon last night and wondered what you were looking at. Tonight you’ll have another chance to see three of our closest neighbors floating past each other through space.
The moon, in its crescent phase, is rising 45 minutes earlier, becoming more lit up and drifting farther from the planets each night.
Venus, the closest planet at over 23 million miles away from Earth, is one of the brightest objects in the sky. “Venus is like an evening star in the west because it’s so bright,” says Leah Sapir from the Phoenix Astronomical Society.
Jupiter will move lower night to night and Venus will remain high for a few months until slowly becoming less visible.
Using a small telescope or binoculars held steady on a tripod, you can begin to see Jupiter’s dark bands or some of its largest moons. “You have to be looking at the right time to see the large red spot,” says Sapir.
Sapir notes, “Galileo discovered four of Jupiter’s largest moons with a telescope only as powerful as today’s binoculars.”
The Phoenix Astronomical Society hosts free events at city parks and Paradise Valley Community College throughout the year. Events start at sunset and last a few hours.
To learn more about space and astronomy, visit skyandtelescope.com or the Phoenix Astronomical Society at www.pasaz.org.
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