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posted by mrpg on Tuesday January 31 2017, @09:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the the-cosmic-ballet-goes-on dept.

You won't have to get out your telescopes to see Mars, Venus and the moon put on a show, Jan. 31.

The three celestial objects will be exceptionally close to each other on Tuesday night in a rare celestial treat called a conjunction.

[...] Kief says the best time to watch the conjunction is after sunset, starting at 8 p.m. PT. [Editor's Note: UTC-8]

He says to identify Venus, look for the glowing object that has a red and yellow tinge to it. Venus will shine slightly brighter than Mars, since it's closer to the Earth. Mars has an orange and red tinge to it.

And remember, if the celestial object you're looking at twinkles, it's probably not a planet.


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  • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Tuesday January 31 2017, @11:43AM

    by Unixnut (5779) on Tuesday January 31 2017, @11:43AM (#461155)

    Aaah, you must live in the UK. The one place where you are pretty much guaranteed to have a cloudy day if some interesting astronomical event is happening.

    If Chile is an astronomers heaven, the UK is like an astronomers hell.

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Tuesday January 31 2017, @12:35PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday January 31 2017, @12:35PM (#461159) Journal

    It was good enough for Stonehenge.

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    • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Tuesday January 31 2017, @01:41PM

      by Unixnut (5779) on Tuesday January 31 2017, @01:41PM (#461182)

      Well, that is climate change for you. Maybe the weather was clearer back then :-)

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 31 2017, @03:24PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 31 2017, @03:24PM (#461249) Journal

        I read something about that once. I think England had about fifteen to twenty clear days EVERY YEAR back then. It was amazing.

  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday January 31 2017, @01:20PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 31 2017, @01:20PM (#461177)

    the UK is like an astronomers hell.

    Look on the bright side, vast areas of the USA are either in the deep negative degrees C in the winter while in the summer the clouds of mosquitoes block the view of the stars.

  • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday January 31 2017, @02:59PM

    by isostatic (365) on Tuesday January 31 2017, @02:59PM (#461235) Journal

    Yup, it's a right pain.

    http://www.meteoradar.co.uk/clouds-sun-UK-Ireland [meteoradar.co.uk]