For the next few weeks, there's quite an amazing visual spectacle happening in space, an astronomical event more rare than a lunar or solar eclipse. All the visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) are lining up. (Were the Mayans off by a couple of years?)
These images are the same except the planet names are given in the image above. Earth is the blue dot. (They are from Sky View Cafe, an excellent site created by Kerry Shetline.)
The moon even joined in on July 12-16, and it will be even closer from August 10-13! And it's a new moon, so it won't be outshining the others. Nice of it. Just find yourself a good place to view the sun setting on the horizon, around 15 minutes before sunset to an hour after. Jupiter will rise in the East just as these planets set in the West.
And where are they pointing to? The constellations Virgo on the Saturn side and Pisces on the Jupiter side. And considering the center of the galaxy is in Sagittarius, smack dab between Pisces and Virgo, this is a pretty interesting lineup. Mercury will be the first planet to leave the apparition as it fades in brightness, around August 17th. Enjoy! (Because I'm pretty sure you'll have passed on by the time this happens again.) :) :)
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