January guide to the bright planets
I thought I would share this. I happened to look outside earlier tonight and seen Venus as bright as airplane landing lights. I pulled up my star chart app and noticed the little red dot above it was Mars. It got me thinking about what is visible this month. I found this and thought I would share.
Two of the five bright planets rise to great prominence in January 2017 sky. Venus rules over the evening sky while Jupiter rules the morning. Venus, the brightest planet, blazes in the west first thing at dusk, and reaches its greatest elongation as the “evening star” on January 12. Jupiter, the second-brightest planet, lords over the eastern half of sky between midnight and sunrise. Mars is near Venus in the evening sky, but it’s higher up and much fainter than Venus, setting in the west shortly after Venus does. Meanwhile, Saturn appears in the southeastern sky before dawn. Mercury a short hop beneath Saturn, just as darkness is giving way to morning twilight. Follow the links below to learn more about planets in January 2017.
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury
