El magnífico desfile
planetario
Del 8
hasta el 25 de octubre, el cielo nocturno presentará un espectáculo que
consiste en que los planetas Saturno, Júpiter, Marte, Venus y Mercurio
coinciden en un sector del sistema solar. Estemos atentos a este baile cósmico,
alineándonos con la energía de estos planetas.
Se me
ocurre esta plegaria sencilla: “Desde mi Yo Superior, conecto con la
naturaleza del Cosmos, recibiendo con gratitud su energía de los cuerpos
celestes. Desde mi Yo Superior emanado del sagrado espacio de mi
corazón envío amor profundo al Corazón del Universo, donde somos Uno. Doy
y recibo, honrando mi esencia de Luz. Y doy gracias porque así es, hecho está”.
Para no
perderse ni un detalle del desfile planetario, MÁS ABAJO en inglés ( el Blog contiene traductor ) especializado en noticias de astronomía,
publicó un calendario de las fechas relevantes en este ‘baile’ y lo que se verá
en cada una de estas noches. Estos son los consejos del portal:
Primero
vendrá Saturno, que desaparecerá al final del mes. Durante la primera mitad de
octubre, Júpiter, Marte y Venus estarán visibles de 60 a 90 minutos antes del
amanecer.
El 8 y
9 de octubre valió la pena madrugar: hacia las 5:30 a.m. ET no solo se pudo ver en el cielo a Marte, Júpiter y Venus, sino
que estaban acompañados por Régulo, la estrella más brillante de Leo y por la
luna que estaba en creciente.
Dos
días después, el domingo 11, la luna y Mercurio se tomarán el cielo justo a la
madrugada. La luna se verá como una “delgada sonrisa”, y sobre ella estará el
planeta. El portal dice que los eventos podrán verse sin necesidad de un
telescopio.
El 15
de octubre Mercurio estará a plena vista y permanecerá así hasta el final del
mes. El planeta triplicará su brillo durante este lapso. El 16 hay que estar
atentos en el atardecer a Saturno, que brillará con mayor intensidad justo
antes del anochecer.
Para el
sábado 17 de octubre Júpiter y Marte formarán un “planeta doble”, que será
visible durante 3 horas antes de que salga el Sol.
La
despedida del desfile planetario, el 26 de octubre, estará a cargo de Venus y
Júpiter.
Venus,
que días antes en octubre se podrá ver primero que Júpiter, cerrará la semana
apareciendo bajo Júpiter.
October's Planets on Parade:
How and When to See Them
Here's a guide for October skywatchers: First catch Saturn, then Jupiter,
Mars and Venus, and finally Mercury in the night sky as this month's planetary
parade begins.
As October opens, we find only one bright evening planet — Saturn —
and by month's end, it will be gone, thanks to its lowering altitude and it's
setting progressively closer to sunset. Meanwhile, three —eventually four —
bright planets put on a great show for those who manage to get up at the crack
of dawn. During the first half of October, Jupiter, Mars and Venus will be
readily evident in the eastern sky, 60 to 90 minutes before sunrise.
Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, the Lion, will
hover near Venus when a waning crescent moon passes by on the mornings of Oct.
8 and 9. During the second week of October, Mercury begins to appear down low
near the eastern horizon; it will become more favorably placed later in the
month. And on the morning of Oct. 17, Jupiter and Mars draw close together,
less than the apparent width of the moon. Last, but not least, Jupiter and
Venus once again engage in an eye-catching conjunction on the morning of Oct.
25.
Remember, that you can use your clenched fist at arm's
length — equal to about 10 degrees of the night sky — to measure angular
distances. The brightest stars are equal to first or zero magnitude, while the very
brightest objects (Venus, the moon and the sun) are of negative magnitude.
Here's a look at when to see the brightest planets in the October night sky, if
weather conditions cooperate. [Watch: Andromeda and More: October 2015 Skywatching Highlights]
Oct. 8 and 9 – It will be well
worth your while to set your alarm clock for around 5:30 a.m. local daylight
time, losing a little sleep and venturing outside to view a fascinating and
changing array between three planets, a bright star and a waning crescent moon
in the eastern sky.
On the morning of Oct. 8, you'll see a slender
crescent moon — and 5 or 6 degrees to its lower left you'll see dazzling Venus, the
queen of the dawn, and the much fainter Regulus, brightest star of Leo. On the
morning of Oct. 9, a thinner lunar crescent will form an isosceles triangle;
the vertex angle is at Mars, while Jupiter and the moon form the base angles —
Jupiter to the lower left of the moon. The Mars-Jupiter and Mars-moon sides
(the "legs") measure 4 degrees long, while the base formed by Jupiter
and the moon measure 6 degrees. Also on Oct. 9, Venus is in conjunction
with Regulus, passing 2.5 degrees south of it, below and to the right, and appears
nearly 230 times brighter than the bluish star.
Oct. 11 – At around 5:15 a.m. local daylight time, look low
toward the horizon, slightly south of due east. Make sure there are no
obstructions such as trees or buildings, and you might spy an exceedingly thin
crescent moon, only 2 percent illuminated; resembling a "thin smile"
on the sky. And less than 2 degrees to its upper left is the planet Mercury.
See Oct. 15 for more details.
Oct. 15 – Mercury can be seen with the unaided eye for the
last three weeks of October. Beginning around the Oct. 8, look for it
three-quarters of an hour before sunup, close to the horizon, just south of due
east. The planet triples in brightness over the next week. This morning Mercury
attains its greatest elongation — its farthest distance from the sun as seen
from Earth — 18 degrees west of the sun, and the planet stands almost directly
above the sun from mid-northern latitudes. For this reason it is Mercury's best
morning apparition of the year in most parts of the United States — an almost
paradoxical fact, since Mercury's angular distance from the sun is greater
during each of its other six apparitions over the course of this year.
After Oct. 15, Mercury begins a more leisurely slide
back toward the sun. Even by month's end, a by-then-brilliant Mercury
(magnitude -1.0) might be still be glimpsed low in the east-southeast about 30
to 40 minutes before sunup. If you can still see the planet at the end of October,
then use binoculars to search for another fainter object just emerging from
solar conjunction. On the Oct. 29, Spica is 3.8 degrees to the south, below and
to the right of Mercury. In the first week of November, Spica will become an
easy naked-eye target, while Mercury will disappear.[How to Spot the Asteroid Vesta
in October's Night Sky]
Oct. 16 – Very soon, Saturn will be lost in the glare of the
sun, probably by the end of this month. Before then, it shines through the glow
of the western twilight each evening. Today it crosses over into the boundaries
of Scorpius, having spent the late spring, summer and early fall in Libra. It
currently is 9 degrees to the right of the red star Antares and about 1.5 times
brighter. And hovering 5 degrees to its upper left this evening will be a
four-day old crescent moon.
Oct. 17 – Jupiter and Mars form a highly contrasting
"double planet" in the eastern sky for more than 3 hours before
sunup. This morning they are separated by less than the apparent width of the
moon, only 0.4 degrees. Mars is positioned to Jupiter's upper left and is now
far from the Earth (213.5 million miles) while approaching the aphelion point
in its orbit (on Nov. 20), when it's farthest from the sun, so it's nearly as
faint as it ever gets at magnitude +1.7. Jupiter, on the other hand, is
brilliant at magnitude -1.8 and appears 25 times brighter than the Red Planet.
Looking by telescope, Jupiter
displays a relatively large disk roughly 1/2-arc minute in diameter; a wealth
of detail in Jupiter's clouds should be detectable by telescope on a night of
excellent atmospheric viewing. Meanwhile Mars shows itself as nothing more than
a featureless orange dot only an eighth as wide as Jupiter.
Oct. 25 – Venus has a close conjunction with Jupiter this
morning. When rising together around this date they may seem doubly eerie.
Earlier in the month Venus rose first; after this morning Jupiter will be the
earliest up. Venus and Jupiter will be 1.1 degrees apart. This is a reprise of
the evening Venus-Jupiter conjunction in June, but at that time the planets
were separated by roughly one-third the distance.
Oct. 26 – Venus in October is the highest it ever gets in the
dawn sky, about 30 degrees up in the southeast an hour before sunrise for
watchers at mid-northern latitudes. It rises within several minutes of 3:25
a.m. local daylight time all month, its earliest rising time this year or next.
It shines in the dark eastern sky for more than 2 hours before the first light
of dawn. This lamplike planet attains greatest elongation (46 degrees west of
the sun) this morning. Can you see Venus in the telescope exactly
half-illuminated this morning, or a few days before or after?
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