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From: dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd)
Newsgroups: net.astro
Subject: StarDate: October 13 A Meeting of Jupiter and Mars
Message-ID: <641@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Oct-84 02:00:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.641
Posted: Fri Oct 19 02:00:32 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 15-Oct-84 01:46:49 EDT
Organization: UTexas Astronomy Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 39

Mars and Jupiter meet Saturday evening high in the evening sky.  More
on how to see them -- after this.

October 13  A Meeting of Jupiter and Mars

Two planets come very near each other Saturday evening -- Jupiter and
Mars -- which can be seen high in the southwestern sky just after
sunset.  Mars actually passes due south of Jupiter this evening.  At
their closest, the two planets are slightly less than two degrees
apart.

The giant planet Jupiter is pretty easy to spot around now because it's
brighter than any thing else in the evening sky -- with the exception
of Venus.  Saturday evening, just after the sun goes down, Venus is the
brilliant object low in the western sky.  Jupiter is high in the sky --
the second-brightest object visible.  The planet Mars is right next to
Jupiter.  Its red color contrasts in an interesting way to the bold
white light of the giant planet -- and to the fading red of twilight
itself.

Mars is the planet orbiting just outward from Earth in our solar
system.  And Jupiter orbits beyond Mars, although the two worlds are
separated by the asteroid belt.  While Mars and Jupiter look pretty
much alike in our sky -- both starlike points of light -- they're
really very different types of worlds.  Mars is a small rocky world
like Earth.  Jupiter is a huge gaseous giant -- with its own
mini-solar-system of orbiting, planet-like moons.

There's also a star very near Mars and Jupiter in Saturday evening's
sky.  The star is Lambda in the constellation Sagittarius.  This star
marks the HANDLE of a tiny pattern of stars called the Milk Dipper.
When you see it near Mars and Jupiter, you might try to pick out the
rest of the dipper pattern.


Script by Deborah Byrd.


(c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin