We are in the middle of the couple of weeks each month when the Moon either sets early or rises late, and is therefore not readily visible. We are also in a bit of a lull in bright shiny things to view, with all the planets hiding away. To the casual sky watcher, once darkness sets in these October evenings, there appears to be little but a bunch of stars to look at.
Well, everything’s there if you know when to look. The problem is that we waste so much of our night hours sleeping. In truth, our solar system is visible in its entirety a lot of the time, but not necessarily in Prime Time when it’s convenient to us. Were you to step outside just after sunset tonight, you could have the full marathon tour. Bring a blanket and lots of coffee.
First of all, Saturn is still hanging on just above the western horizon after sunset, setting about two hours after the Sun.
Moving west, former planet Pluto and real planets Neptune and Uranus are currently lined up across the southern sky, available for viewing but in increasing order of difficulty and equipment requirements. Binoculars, telescope and amateur astronomer needed for these.
Now, the easy stuff. Our sister planet Venus rises about 3 a.m. in all its brilliance. Thirty minutes later, the red planet Mars and a crescent Moon follow, and just before 4 a.m., bright Jupiter pops up above the horizon. This grouping covers about the span of your hand in the sky, and remains prominent for about 90 minutes when another planet, Mercury, joins the group a little after 5:30. From then on, the sky will continue to brighten until the Sun rises at 7, just in time for you to shower and get to work.
My point is that if you stand on your own planet and watch the Sun set at around 6pm and rise again some 11 hours later, you will have the opportunity to see our Moon and all the other planets pass before you. The order changes over time, but they’re all there, and, although there are times when some members are too close to the Sun to be seen, this can be done to some extent on any given night.
I find it quite inspiring that our solar system bothers to put on this Parade of Planets night after night in spite of the fact that almost no one takes the time to appreciate it. It’s just one more amazing thing our universe has to offer, available from our own back yard, should we ever just choose to look.
