Venus and Mars will appear close together, low in the eastern predawn sky, all week long.
Venus and Mars, low in the eastern predawn sky – Oct. 3, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.As I was seeing my wife off to work early this morning, she looked up and exclaimed “Oh WOW!” It was an exceptionally clear morning, and the skies appeared crisp and bright; the winter stars of Taurus, Orion, and Canis Major shone brightly.
Jewels high in the southern predawn sky – Oct. 3, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The waxing gibbous Moon and Saturn make great observing targets in the southern sky after sunset on October 3rd. The Moon will be full on October 5th.
Southern sky after sunset – Oct. 3, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.On the morning the October 5th, Venus and Mars will be VERY close to each other in the eastern predawn sky. On the 6th, Venus will appear below Mars, and will continue a slow descent toward the horizon each morning.
Very close conjunction of Venus and Mars at 6:00 AM on the morning of Oct. 5, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Sun has a couple large sunspots; Spaceweather.com says that they all have stable magnetic fields, and are unlikely to produce strong solar flares.
The Sun – Oct. 3, 2017 – Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams. / Bob Trembley.The Sun’s corona has several beautiful large coronal loops on the morning of October 3rd.
Loops in the Sun’s Corona – Oct. 3, 2017 – Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 171 angstroms. Image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.The Sky Overhead
The sky overhead after sunset on Oct. 3, 2017. Credit: Stellarium / Bob Trembley.The Inner Solar System
The Inner Solar System – Oct. 3, 2017. Credit: NASA Eyes on the Solar System / Bob Trembley.Apps used for this post:
Stellarium: a free open source planetarium app for PC/MAC/Linux.
NASA Eyes on the Solar System: an immersive 3D solar system and space mission app – free for the PC /MAC.
