Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Saturday, 20 April 2002

# 3 AM

Tonight and for the next few weeks, all five planets visible to the naked eye are in conjunction. Shweta, Nathaniel, and I climbed up on the roof of my apartment building and looked for them; we found Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter with no difficulty, but couldn't agree on which of several candidates was Saturn. According to the article, Saturn is lower in the sky than Jupiter, so Shweta's candidate was probably right. Makes me want to go buy some binoculars or a mini telescope just to be able to check them for discs.

If you want to look tomorrow night, start immediately after the sun goes down; Mercury sets only about an hour after the sun does. They'll all be in the western half of the sky, between the Moon and where the sun set, in a diagonal line. Venus and Jupiter are the brightest two points in the sky. Mars looks like a moderately bright star, tinged red. Saturn and Mercury are faint, and Mercury will be very close to the horizon.