Mark the evenings of February 25th and 26th on your calendar. If clear, head out after sunset and look toward the western sky. There you will see two of the brightest objects in the night sky—the planets Venus and Jupiter—being “sideswiped” by the brightest of all nighttime objects, the Moon. The spectacle will be readily visible with the unaided eye, and a truly fascinating sight in binoculars.

Other than a meteor shower, the occasional bright comet, or an eclipse, most people think of the sky as static and unchanging. But nothing could be further from the truth—everything in the sky is constantly in motion! The most obvious example of this is the slow movement of the stars from east to west due to the daily rotation of the Earth on its axis. And the very word “planet” comes from the Greek for “wanderers,” indicating that ancient skywatchers recognized that these bodies moved in relation to the stars themselves.

Venus and Jupiter are currently slowly drawing closer together each week as they prepare to meet in a spectacular celestial embrace (or “conjunction”) in March that will be covered in the next issue of Sky Talk. Most of this movement is due to Venus rapidly gaining altitude in the sky and catching up to Jupiter. On the evening of February 25th, Venus will be joined by the beautiful crescent Moon to its upper right. The following evening, the Moon will have moved upward (actually eastward in the sky) and to the right of Jupiter. The view on either of these evenings through your Edmund binoculars will be quite a sight! And should you have a rich-field telescope with a very wide field of view such as the Scientifics’ Astroscan Plus, both Moon and planet may actually fit in the same eyepiece field for a brief time. Whether using binoculars or telescope, be sure to notice the “Earthshine” illuminating the dark portion of the Moon itself. As discussed in past Sky Talk installments, this is sunlight from the Pacific Ocean where it’s still daylight reflecting back onto our satellite. (This glow is also visible to the unaided eye.)

Through a telescope at a magnification of about 30x, Venus will appear just over half-full (or slightly gibbous) during February. The best time to observe it is during twilight when the bright sky background cuts down on the glare from this radiant orb, which overpowers the planet in a dark sky. At the same magnification, Jupiter’s four bright Galilean satellites will be visible in constantly changing positions as they orbit the giant planet. And after it passes Venus and Jupiter, the Moon moves out of the scene in its never-ending eastward journey, clipping along at an orbital velocity of over 2,200 miles per hour. Truly, the heavenly canopy above us is not static but rather an ever-changing (and absolutely free) skyshow!

—James Mullaney
Former assistant editor at Sky & Telescope magazine & author of eight books on stargazing.

With so much hype and misinformation concerning the year 2012 currently in books, on television, in movies, and the subject of various conferences, this month’s column is designed to hopefully bring some science and common sense to this sensational topic as we begin the much-heralded year marking the end of the fabled Mayan calendar.

Let’s begin by asking just what’s so special about the “Galactic Alignment” we’re hearing so much about? Nothing! Every year on or about December 21st the Sun “aligns” with the center of our Milky Way Galaxy at the Winter Solstice. Supposedly it’s going to be more closely lined up than in recorded history. Yet, as is well-known to astronomers, it was actually closer to the center in 1998! (This stems from the subtleties of the galactic and ecliptic coordinate systems, which space prohibits covering here.) But in any case, the Sun will still be several degrees from being exactly over the galactic center in 2012. Even more significant is the fact that the alignment is only an apparent one—the actual center of our Galaxy is 26,000 light-years away (that’s 26,000 x 6,000,000,000,000 miles!). There can be no sudden drastic influx of radiation precisely at midnight on the 21st from the nucleus’ black hole devastating the Earth’s population, as is being claimed by some—nor will we be sucked in as others fear!

There’s also the “Great Dark Rift” that’s being talked a lot about as a kind of “roadway” into the center of the Galaxy. What’s being referred to is one of the many areas of dark obscuring clouds of gas and dust that line the spiral arms of the Galaxy. And there are at least six of these arms, with our Solar System here in the galactic boondocks being imbedded in an outer one. The dark rift seen in the summer and fall Milky Way in our local arm does not lead to the center of the Galaxy!

The thing that really puzzles me the most about the 2012 fiasco, as an astronomer, concerns the planet Venus. As the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon, this radiant orb held great importance to the Maya. And yet a very rare and spectacular event involving Venus that will occur during 2012 has been largely ignored by 2012 writers and speakers. On the late afternoon of June 5th, Venus will transit the face of Sun—an event that can be seen even with the unaided eye! (The transit will be featured in the June installment of Sky Talk along with tips on safely viewing it.) This happens in pairs separated by 8 years—the last having occurred in 2004—and then not again for more than a century (2117 being the next one)! Surely the Maya attached great significance to this spectacle. Should we not also?

I would like to conclude on a positive note about 2012. Raising public consciousness of the universe and our place in it as citizens of our home Galaxy is definitely happening because of all the attention being focused on 2012. This in turn leads to that “cosmic perspective” that my late friend and mentor Carl Sagan always talked about and felt was crucial to our survival as a species. In that sense, this year of 2012 is indeed significant.

—James Mullaney
Former assistant editor at Sky & Telescope magazine and author of eight books on stargazing.

Wow — what a month for celestial events! Crammed within the space of just three weeks, sky watchers will be treated to a total eclipse of the Moon (for those on the West Coast), the annual Geminid Meteor Shower, and brilliant Venus posing as our Christmas Star. And all of these sights require nothing more than the naked-eye and a clear night.
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Brilliant Jupiter is now well-placed in the eastern evening sky and once again has a surprise in store for telescope users. As reported here last year, the giant planet lost one of its two main equatorial belts (while its famed Great Red Spot increased in prominence after being nearly invisible for some time). But the belt is back! And adding to the show are Jupiter’s four bright moons waltzing around the planet from night-to-night. All you need to see the action for yourself is a clear sky and a good telescope.
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