fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

The Night Sky: Won’t you be my neighbor?

by Bob Berman
June 10, 2021
in Columns
0
The Night Sky: Won’t you be my neighbor?

 

This weekend, the three nearest celestial bodies bunch up for our observing pleasure. They’re easy to find and require no telescope or charts. The only challenge: They’re down low in the direction of sunset. So you need to be in a place with a flat unobstructed view of the west. From Kingston, nearly all the malls have parking lots offering such a clear sighting. From the east side of the Hudson, like from any Metro North or Amtrack train station, or from any boat on the river, a clear view is guaranteed.

You get three chances, all in the same 9 to 9:30 p.m. time period. On Friday evening the 11th, Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th, the offer holds. On Friday, the hair-thin crescent Moon will float below brilliant Venus. Really low down, scraping the horizon. Saturday at the same time, the crescent Moon, now higher, hovers between Venus and much dimmer, orange Mars. And Sunday evening the Moon floats closely above Mars.

Binoculars will make everything easier to find in the fading twilight. But if you have an unobstructed view, your eyes alone are enough. Here’s their story.

Venus has been hiding behind the Sun these past few months, and is only now beginning its lovely Evening Star apparition. Though already the night’s brightest “star,” it’ll grow to be twice as bright this fall and much higher up. So you could choose to wait until then and consider this merely a premiere, a first-glance or teaser.

Mars is doing the opposite. It was close and brilliant last fall and is now on the far side of the sun, about as distant and dim as it ever gets. You’ll have to stare hard into the twilight to see it, to the upper left of the Moon and Venus. And the Moon — well, when it’s this slender a crescent, any astronauts there would look our way and see a nearly “Full Earth.” Our planet is currently so bright in the lunar sky that our light illuminates the Moon’s terrain wherever it’s not lit by the Sun. Check out its dark portion all this weekend. You’ll see the majority of the Moon, its dark part, glowing brightly from Earthshine.

What a sight! As for the distances of our three nearest celestial companions, if you could travel at light-speed, you could get from here to the Moon in just under two seconds, to brilliant Venus in about nine minutes and to dim Mars, since it’s now beyond the Sun at the far point in its orbit, in 17 minutes. 

Don’t bother with telescopes. None are favorably positioned or illuminated for high-power views. Your eyes or plain binoculars are good enough.

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Catskill Center founder Sherret Chase dies at 102

Next Post

New Paltz planners need help reviewing 650-unit apartment proposal

Bob Berman

Bob Berman, Ulster Publishing’s Night Sky columnist since 1974, is the world’s most widely read astronomer. Since the mid-1990s, his celebrated "Strange Universe" feature has appeared monthly in Astronomy magazine, the largest circulation periodical on the subject. Berman is also the long-time astronomy editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. He was Discover magazine’s monthly columnist from 1989-2006. He has authored more than a thousand published mass-market articles and been a guest on such TV shows as Today and Late Night with David Letterman. Berman is director of two Ulster County observatories and the Storm King Observatory at Cornwall. He was adjunct professor of astronomy and physics at Marymount college from 1995-2000.

Related Posts

Is the Moon the perfect shape?
Columns

Is the Moon the perfect shape?

February 2, 2023
America has been good to the Curtins from County Cork
Columns

America has been good to the Curtins from County Cork

January 27, 2023
Should we even be searching for another Earth?
Columns

Whether 200 billion or 800 billion, there are a lot of planets out there

January 20, 2023
Recalling the night a high school basketball team sought shelter from the storm
Columns

Recalling the night a high school basketball team sought shelter from the storm

January 7, 2023
Independent radio rebel Jeff Economy connects listeners to a wider world of sound
Art & Music

Independent radio rebel Jeff Economy connects listeners to a wider world of sound

January 6, 2023
For flora and fauna, winter is a season of survival
Columns

For flora and fauna, winter is a season of survival

January 5, 2023
Next Post
New Paltz planners need help reviewing 650-unit apartment proposal

New Paltz planners need help reviewing 650-unit apartment proposal

Trending News

  • Ignoring road closure signs, driver gets tractor trailer stuck on mountain road in Saugerties for 24 hours 2.8k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 2k views
  • Dog rescued from Wallkill River’s icy grip 713 views
  • Controversy ensues as KCSD walks back Black History Month opt out language 694 views
  • Judge tosses most serious charge against trooper in death of eleven-year-old  581 views
  • Saugerties Snow Moon parade postponed until Sunday due to weather 500 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
27°
Clear
6:59 am5:20 pm EST
Feels like: 27°F
Wind: 2mph WSW
Humidity: 84%
Pressure: 30.3"Hg
UV index: 0
FriSatSun
52/30°F
43/23°F
45/30°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing