Yesterday, I saw a post via Sky & Telescope’s Facebook feed that reminded me to get out my telescope. This week, starting tomorrow, you don’t need a telescope to see something amazing.
Saturday after sunset, look to the south to see the Moon near Mars.
Monday, again after sunset, look a bit farther to the south-east to see the Moon near Saturn.
Here’s a link to Sky & Telescope’s article about the Moon juicing up July:
Two Moon-Planet Conjunctions Juice Up July
But back to my telescope. I know I don’t need it to see the above two events, anyone with eyeballs can observe them. I wanted to get out my telescope and shake off the cobwebs. It’s been a cloudy spring this year, at least on the weekends. I observed Mars first, trying to see the polar ice caps, then I switched to Saturn, where I clearly saw the separation between the rings and the different cloud layers. The angle of the rings with respect to Saturn is spectacular right now.
