Mars and Saturn continue their magnificent dance with Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion this week although both planets are leaving Regulus behind.  Mars is getting closer and closer to Saturn, and on Friday the 11th of July, Mars and Saturn will be at their closest for the next two years.

To see this marvelous conjunction, just go outside on Friday night at 7:50 p.m. and measure three fist-widths above due west.  You’ll see two bright stars very close together and the right one will be the brightest.  The left one should look distinctly red.  The right one is the planet Saturn and the left one is the planet Mars.  Friday night marks their closest point of approach, but they will be worth watching all week in the hour or so after sunset.

After you’ve watched Mars and Saturn for a while, turn completely around and face east.  The bright stars of the Summer Triangle will be to your left, but that won’t be what catches your eye.  No, the first thing you’ll notice is that incredibly bright star to the right of due east.  That’s not a star, that’s our third evening planet, Jupiter.  

We talked last month about the fact that one weekend, the Earth, the Sun and Mercury and Venus were all in a straight line.  Well, Wednesday night, 9 July, we’ll be in a straight line with Jupiter and the Sun.  Of course, Earth is always in the middle when Jupiter reaches opposition.  So, enjoy your three evening planets all week this week.

Jupiter is visiting the constellation Sagittarius the Archer this year and is just below the teapot’s handle.  Sagittarius contains the center of the Milky Way and the whole constellation is awesome through binoculars.  Above Jupiter and Sagittarius, to the south you may spot something interesting, a giant fishhook hanging in the sky.  However, you may be more familiar with it if I call it Scorpius the Scorpion.  But if you’re looking for it in the sky, don’t look for a scorpion; look for a fishhook.  

Scan Scorpius with binoculars too.  If the sky is clear, you may notice one of the stars in the main body of the hook opposite the barb looks like a comet with a long tail.  That’s Mu Scorpius and it isn’t a comet.  The stars that form Scorpius lie between us and the heart of the Milky Way.  There are enormous dust clouds here that prevent us from ever seeing Galactic Center.  That ‘comet tail’ is just a dense part of the dust.

If you’re having a little trouble finding the galaxy in the real sky because those pesky water clouds keep hiding your starry home from you, have I got a deal for you.  It’s public show week in the Planetarium and we are going to take you on the grandest trip of all; a tour of your galactic home, the Milky Way.  At 6:30 p.m. this Thursday Friday and Saturday, join us as we travel Out to the Edge.  We’ll explore the Sun’s immediate area and then take a starship ride down the Orion Arm to the edge of the great swirl of stars we live in.  Then at 7:00 p.m., we’ll journey Into the Core.  Along the way, we’ll visit vast star forming regions, dying stars and eventually fetch up among the mysteries of Galaxy Central and learn all about magnetic arcs and black holes.  The doors open each night at 6:00 p.m. and Planetarium shows are always free!  It’s a cosmic adventure!  Don’t miss it!
  
 
 Would you like to be on the Planetarium e-mail list and receive a monthly reminder of the Planetarium shows and occasional notices of cool things in the sky?  Just send an e-mail to stars@guam.net requesting that you be added and I'll put you on the list!

Don't forget that you can hear this information on Guam's public radio station KPRG, 89.3 on your radio dial.  The program is called Tropical Skies and it airs twice on Monday, at 12:25 and at 6:01 in the evening.  Support your public radio station.

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