by Erich Karkoschka

• Mars is the only naked eye evening planet. It transits at sunset more than 72 degrees high and sets past midnight. It moves through Aries and almost reaches the Pleiades by the end of the month.

On the 17th, three planets appear simultaneously in the morning sky. Jupiter is the brightest, but also lowest. Mercury is 4 degrees above Jupiter and Saturn is 4 degrees to the right of Mercury. For the next week, the three planets become easier to see while

maintaining their relative positions. Then, Mercury will be approaching Jupiter faster and faster and pass it very close on March 5th. By February 28, Mercury will be at its best while Jupiter and Saturn continue to become more obvious in March. During February, they all rise during dawn and remain low. The best

time is shortly after 6 am. Remember, those three planets were even closer together in the evening sky around January 10th.

Uranus is still visible in Aries to the lower right of Mars in the evening sky.

Vesta, minor planet number 4, is getting up to 6th magnitude in Leo and might be seen naked eye in March.

On the evening of February 12th, the 1 percent illuminated moon can be found low at dusk just before 7 pm. Last Quarter Moon is on the 4th, New Moon on the 11th, First Quarter Moon on the 19th, and Full Moon on February 27th.

by Erich Karkoschka

RARE CONJUNCTION ALERT!!

Jupiter and Saturn will get as close as .1 (1/10 of a degree) from each other on December 21st (Winter Solstice) — they are actually separated by distance as Jupiter is 551 million miles from Earth and Saturn is abut twice as far at just over 1 Billion miles from Earth . That will be close enough to challenge being able to separate both with just your eyes. If you get a chance, observe them with your eyes, a pair of binoculars, or a telescope (great opportunity to compare both planets at high power in the same field of view). For comparison, the width of your clenched fist held at arms length is about 10 degrees. On the 21st, they set pretty shortly after sunset, so go out about 1/2 hour after sunset to view them (they will set around 7 pm). The last time they got this close together and were both observable was 1226 (794 years ago). The next conjunction that will be this close will be in 2080. The pair starts December about 2 degrees apart. The distance decreases by about .1 degree every day, so observe them every evening and watch them get closer to each other. Look for a small crescent Moon near the pair on the 16th (5 degrees below) & the 17th (10 degrees to the left).

Venus rises after 5 am and is still conspicuous during dawn. Venus will be only be 1/6 of a degree from a second magnitude star (Acrab) on the morning of the 18th. This is too close to see next to bright Venus with the naked eyes, but a splendid view in binoculars.

Mars fades quickly this month, but is still the brightest object aside from Jupiter and Sirius after it rises late evening. Its diameter of 14 arc-seconds is still larger than its opposition diameter during less favorable oppositions, such as in 2027.

Uranus is 20 degrees to the upper left of Mars at the beginning of December. It can be easily seen in binoculars but requires some practice to find it. By the end of the year, the separation to Mars is only 10 degrees.

Neptune is well to the lower right of Mars, best observable right after dusk.

On the morning of December 12th, the thin lunar crescent will be only 3 degrees from Venus, most spectacular between 5:30 and 6 am. Very experienced observers may try to find them in the afternoon when the moon will occult Venus at around 2:20 pm. They will be only about 15 degrees high. The moon will definitely not be visible naked eye because it is too slim, but the view in a telescope would be good with the disappearance of Venus taking half a minute.

On the 14th, part of Chile and Argentina will experience a total solar eclipse. Some of us had plans to observe it, but had to cancel because of travel restrictions. Instead, we can watch the Geminid meteor show the evening before without moonlight and a peak predicted to occur during that evening, the 13th. Best viewing though is the early morning hours of December 14th.

By Jim Knoll

A few virtual events happening this week (April 19 – 26, 2020) in support of International Dark Sky Week on Facebook Live & You Tube. The Facebook pages below are public pages, so you do not need to have a Facebook account to view them. If you miss any live events, they will probably be available under Facebook Video’s.

Tuesday April 21. 11:30 am Arizona Time (GMT-7 or Pacific Timezone) on the Grand Canyon Conservancy Association (GRCA) Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/grandcanyonconservancy/). Ranger Rader Lane will discuss GRCAs journey to become an International Dark Sky Park.

Tuesday April 21. 8:00 pm Arizona Time (GMT-7 or Pacific Timezone) on our TAAA Facebook Page, we will be doing a Virtual Star Party, observing about 12 objects for an hour and half. TAAA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/. The live event may be located under the Videos section.

Thursday April 23. 12 pm (Noon) Arizona Time on the GRCA Facebook Page. Dean Regas will do a Live Virtual Tour of the Universe. If you don’t immediately see the live video when you go to the Facebook page at the appointed time, look under the Live or Video section of the page.

Friday April 24. 7 – 8:15 pm Arizona Time on the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. A nation-wide livestream Star Party. it will be presented on You Tube. The Whipple webpage is:   https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=112413

All Week. Log into the International Dark Sky Association International Dark Sky Week page for a schedule of presentations all week long. Many are specific for children and would be good for kids or grandkids. The link to the webpage is:  idsw.darksky.org. Once there select schedule.

by Erich Karkoschka

	Mars is still an evening object until 10 pm. It moves from the Golden Gate, between Aldebaran and the Pleiades, all the way through Taurus.
	Jupiter transits at dawn.
	Venus is further east and does not rise until 5 am during dawn.
	Saturn is 26 degrees east of Jupiter, the closest since 2001.
	Mercury races with Venus. The first half of April, it is slower than Venus, so Venus catches up to 5 degrees distance. Then is faster and gets slowly further away from Venus until it disappears after the 28th.
	The minor Planet (2) Pallas is 8th Magnitude and high up in Bootes.