Sky Watch Night Tour - Week of Nov 18 - 24, 2011

Take a sky tour to help you locate Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in the night sky this week. Also I have a solar system view that explains why Mercury appears to move westward when retrograde. I explain that the inferior conjunction of Mercury and Sun occurs at the midpoint of the retrograde period and the midpoint between the greatest eastern and western elongations. The greatest elongations are as far as Mercury can be from the Sun. The maximum greatest elongation Mercury can have is 28 degrees. This doesn’t mean he always gets to 28 degrees from the Sun at these times. For instance, Mercury’s greatest eastern elongation on November 14th was 22.74 degrees which is an orb of about 22:45 between the Sun & Mercury.



I have a special offer for a FREE Astronomy for Astrologers DVD. This is a 90 minute video lecture of astronomy basics that relate specifically to astrology. Click here for more information on that.

Sky Watch Night Sky Tour - Nov 11 - 18, 2011

Locate Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars & Saturn in the night sky this week. Tune in to learn about celestial latitude, which explains why Venus appears above Mercury in the night sky even though they are traveling in the same zodiacal degree (celestial longitude). Also Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation on November 14th and is slowing down as it prepares to station retrograde next week. Venus will separate from Mercury this week as she remains at a relatively steady speed of motion. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on November 18th but is active from Nov 6 – 30. This video also explains why meteor showers happen and when to look for the shower.

Night Sky Tour of Nov 4 - 11, 2011

This week’s Sky Tour shows Mercury & Venus in the west passing up Antares. Jupiter is in the east at sunset and the Moon conjoins Jupiter this week. Mars rises after midnight and approaches Regulus. Saturn rises before dawn near Spica.

Plus I talk about the story of the Clash of the Titans that plays out in the sky every night in the northern hemisphere and a few fixed stars associated with the stellar cast of constellations. This is always a favorite around those autumn bon fires.

Night Sky Tour: October 28 - November 3, 2011

Venus and Mercury are visible in the west during the evening twilight. Mercury sets just before 7:00 PM and Venus just after 7:00 PM all week long. Jupiter rises in the east at 6:40 PM on October 28th in the constellation Aries. Each night he will rise a bit earlier. By November 4th Jupiter will rise around 6:20 PM. Jupiter will be visible all week night setting shortly before sunrise. Mars rises around 2:00 AM on October 28th and like Jupiter will rise a bit earlier each night. On November 4rd Mars rises around 1:50 AM. Mars is traveling through the constellation Leo above Regulus. Saturn rises just before the dawn in the constellation Virgo above Spica. Saturn rises around 6:45 AM on October 28th and around 6:25 AM on the morning of November 4th.

I talk about apparent magnitude in this blog as I compare Saturn’s brightness to Spica’s. Apparent magnitude is how bright planets and stars appear from Earth - the brighter the object the lower its numerical value of magnitude. So Saturn at 0.73 magnitude is brighter than Spica at 0.96 magnitude. The sun, the brightest object in our sky has an apparent magnitude of -26.7. Venus is the brightest planet and her brightness varies based on her phase and proximity to earth which has to do with proximity to superior & inferior conjunction. In fact all planets have varying degrees of brightness when observed from Earth for similar reasons. Right now Venus’s apparent magnitude is -3.81. Jupiter is next brightest with an apparent magnitude of -2.76. Mercury has an apparent magnitude of 0.22. Mars is currently the dimmest planet with an apparent magnitude of 1.11. This is different than absolute magnitude.

Absolute magnitude is how bright stars would be if they were all placed 10 parsecs from Earth. A parsec is 3.262 light years, or about 19 trillion miles or 31 trillion kilometers. Right we can’t even fathom that distance! In fact there is no star other than our Sun that is within a parsec of Earth. Absolute magnitude is where the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram comes in. This diagram measures the temperature of the star and its spectral class along the bottom. These two factors are related because blue stars are brighter than red stars, just like the bluish-white tips of any flame is hottest. Down the side it measures a stars luminosity and absolute magnitude. What emerges when we plot all the stars on this graph is a main sequence of stars. Most stars, like our Sun, are main sequence stars. However we also get super giants like Antares and Betelgeuse, giants like Aldebaran, and white drwarfs like Sirius B. The Sirius we know as the dog star of summer is a main sequence star.

Observational Astrology Week of October 21 - 27, 2011

This week Venus & Mercury are visible in the west just before sunset. Jupiter rises in the east just after sunset and is visible all night long. Mars rises around 2:00 am and is visible until dawn blots him from view. Saturn rises just before dawn. We also have the opportunity to watch the Moon with Mars on Oct 21st, the Moon with Saturn on the 26th and the Moon with Mercury & Venus on the 27th. It’s a great week for sky watching!



The Orionid Meteor Showers peak this week! Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the trails of dust & debris left behind by comets. Earth passes through the dust trails of Haley’s Comet from October 17 – 25. Some of the debris will enter our atmosphere and Earth will burn it up. This is what causes the shooting star of effect of meteors. Meteor Showers are named after the constellation in which the shooting stars occur. So we will locate the Orionids in the constellation of Orion. Orion is fully above the horizon around midnight. Orion reaches the Zenith around 4:00 am. Around 4:00 a.m. is the peak viewing time. At 4:00 a.m. on October 21st the Orionids peak with about 20 meteors expected to enter our atmosphere at speeds of 41.6 miles per second. The shower is active until October 25th so you can see meteors up until then and you may have noticed some already. Orion sets around 10:00 a.m. and is possible to see meteors in the daylight if the meteors are very bright.

I want to also say that the time is LOCAL TIME. These times work in ANY time zone because it is relative to the sunset. Remember that constellations are not the same as signs and if you have any confusion about why your ephemeris lists the planets in different signs than you see them appearing in the constellations watch my first Observational Astrology Video where I explain why that is. No zodiac is wrong. Constellations are different than signs.

Watch the video to locate the planets and Orion in the night sky this week. Happy Sky Watching and thank you for tuning in!

Please leave me comments if this helped you to locate the plants and to let me know if there is something else you’d like to see in this video blog.

Here’s to clear nights!
Julene

Observational Astrology - Week of Oct 14 - 20, 2011

This is my first blog of the night sky tours which I intend to put out every Friday. This week you can locate Venus, Jupiter & Mars in the night sky. Jupiter will be visible all night long from just after sunset until sunrise. Venus sets around 7:15 p.m. and Mars rises around 2:15 a.m. The Moon moves about 13 degrees and 20 minutes per day and we can watch her travel from Aries through Cancer. Since the Moon travels throught the zodiac in 27.3 days, it will move though 3-4 constellations a week.

Thank you for watching and please let me know if this helped you locate the planets.

Observational Astrology - Intro: Difference Between a Sign & a Constellations

Watch this video to hear the difference between a sign and a constellation. It is important to know that the constellation a planet is in the night sky will not be the same zodical sign on an astrology chart for the corresponding date. Neither one are wrong! Signs are NOT constellations. They were the same around the 1st century BC but precession of the equinoxes has changed that slowly over time since then and will continue to do so.

What will remain the same is where the planet is relative to the horizon (the line on the chart wheel that runs from the Ascendant to the Descendant). Everything above the horizon is visible in the sky, exactly where the chart says it is. Planets in the 7th house of a horoscope are about to set. Planets in the 12th house of a horoscope have recently risen. Planets in the 1st house will rise soon. Planets at the Midheaven are culminating. The horoscope is a map of the sky. The only difference is, the consetllation will not be the same as the sign.