Scheduled air date: 2006 Jul 03-09
In the early evening sky this weekend, the tiny planet Mercury, ringed planet
Saturn and red planet Mars can be seen toward the west-northwest. The giant
planet Jupiter can also be seen in the south-southwest. Now is a good time to
view Saturn and Mercury, as they'll soon be lost in the glare of the Sun as seen
from Earth.
(Shown about 45 minutes after sunset for mid-northern latitudes.)
The Earth is at aphelion—the point in its orbit farthest from the Sun—this week.
It is 3 million miles/4.8 million kilometers farther from the Sun that it was at
perihelion in January.
(Earth's orbit around the Sun shown from above the Sun's
north pole.)
If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.
 |
Illustrations on this page were created using
TheSky6 Astronomy
Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc. |