Planets In The Sun
Explanation:
Today,
all five naked-eye
planets
(Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn)
plus the Moon and the
Sun will at least approximately line-up.
As viewed
from planet Earth, they will be clustered
within about 26 degrees, the closest alignment for all
these celestial bodies since
February 1962, when there was a
solar eclipse!
Such
planetary
alignments are not dangerous,
except of course that the Sun might hurt your eyes when
you look at it.
So it might
be easier to
appreciate today's
solar system spectacle
if
you use a space-based coronagraph ... like
the LASCO
instrument onboard the SOHO observatory.
In this
recent
LASCO image, an occulting disk supported by a structure
seen projecting from the lower left blocks out the overwhelming
sunlight.
It shows three of the planets along with the Sun's location and
bright solar wind regions against a background of stars,
but Mars and Venus are unfortunately outside LASCO's roughly
15 degree field of view.
The horizontal bars through the planets are digital image artifacts.
And what
about the Moon?
The SOHO spacecraft is
positioned
well beyond lunar orbit where its view of the Sun is
never interrupted by the Moon.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
