What's Up This Weekend?

This weekend two wanderers and a hunter take center stage.

The first wanderer is the planet Venus. If you've seen a very bright "star" in the south-southwest after sunset in the past few weeks, then you've seen Venus. Through even a small telescope you should notice that Venus has just passed dichotomy. This is when Venus looks half-lit, like a first-quarter moon. Earth, Venus, and the Sun make nearly a right angle this weekend and we are looking at the day- and night-side of Venus simultaneously.

Our other wanderer is the planet Saturn, just about everyone's favorite. Saturn rises in the east about 10 p.m. and in an hour is well-placed for telescopic observing. Even the smallest telescope will show Saturn's rings, usually. I say "usually," because about every 15 years we cross the ring plane of Saturn. This is one of those years and the rings appear very thin. The rings are still visible, though, so take a look and compare your views in the next few years to see the rings "open up" again.

Traveling with Saturn is a large retinue of moons. Many of these can be seen in backyard telescopes. Its most famous moon, Titan, is the second largest moon in the solar system -- after Ganymede. Titan can be seen -- even in small telescopes -- as an orange-ish "star" near Saturn. The moon Rhea can be seen in telescopes larger than 60-mm in diameter. Tethys and Dione can be seen in telescopes 150-mm and larger.

Due south after sunset this time of year is the large constellation of Orion the hunter. Orion's most striking feature is his three "belt" stars that form a diagonal running from northwest to southeast. If we continue to move southeast from Orion's belt we run into the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, which is also the brightest star of the constellation Canis Major the big dog. Moving back through Orion's belt and to the northwest we run into Aldebaran, thr brightest star in the constellation of Taurus the bull. Moving past Aldebaran we run into an open star cluster known as the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades. The Pleiades cluster is often confused with the little dipper because of the shape made by its brightest stars. But the Pleiades cluster is microscopic compared to the actual Little Dipper in the northern sky. And last, but not least, if we move south from the left-most star in Orion's belt we see a fuzzy star. In binoculars or a telescope we discover that this fuzz is in fact the Great Orion Nebula, a gigantic cloud of dust and gas where stars are currently being born.

Do yourself a favor and take a look at these marvels this weekend.