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Credit & Copyright: Joe Orman
Explanation:
Rising before the Sun on February 2nd,
astrophotographer Joe Orman
anticipated this apparition of the bright
morning star
Venus near a lovely crescent Moon above a neighbor's house
in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
Fortunately, the alignment of bright planets and the Moon is
one of the most inspiring sights in the
night sky and one
that is often easy to enjoy and share without any special equipment.
Take tonight, for example.
Those blessed with clear skies can simply step
outside near sunset
and view a young crescent Moon very near three bright planets
in the west
Jupiter,
Mars, and
Saturn.
Jupiter will be the unmistakable brightest star near the Moon
with a reddish Mars just to Jupiter's north and pale yellow
Saturn directly above.
Of course, these
sky
shows create an
evocative picture but the
planets and Moon just appear to be near each other --
they are actually only approximately lined up and
lie in widely separated orbits.
Unfortunately, next month's highly publicized
alignment of planets on May 5th will be lost from
view in the Sun's glare but such
planetary
alignments occur repeatedly and
pose no danger to planet Earth.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: planetary alignment - Moon - Venus
Publications with words: planetary alignment - Moon - Venus
See also: