Venus, Jupiter, and the Little King

Have you been enjoying Venus and Jupiter in the western evening sky? They are both beautiful and hard to miss. Venus is exceptionally bright, and shines like a beacon as soon as the Sun sets. If you haven't caught them yet, just look to the west as soon as the Sun is below the horizon. They are the two brightest objects in the west. Venus is brighter and a little lower. See image below for their position tonight. 

The planets are so bright, you can easily see them before it is completely dark. Image Credit: Stellarium and me.

This Friday, Jupiter will be midway between Venus and the brightest star in Leo the Lion, Regulus. I wrote about how to find Leo last year. Click here to read more. See image below, set for Peoria on June 12, at 10 PM.

Click on image to enlarge. Jupiter will be halfway between Venus and Regulus. Can you spot Regulus - the bottom star of Leo's backwards question mark? Image Credit: Stellarium and me.

Regulus is the bottom star in the backwards question mark that makes up Leo's head and front leg. If you need a little help finding it, the image below has constellation lines. 

Leo's head and front leg are marked by a backwards question mark, and his back leg and tail make a triangle behind the question mark shape. Image Credit: Stellarium and me.

Regulus is the 22nd brightest star in the night sky, and is Latin for 'prince' or 'little king'. The Arabic name for Regulus was Qalb al-Asad, which means 'heart of the lion'. Even though it looks like Regulus is only one star, it is actually a multiple star system consisting of four stars that are organized in two pairs. The star system is about 79 light years away from Earth, making it fairly close to us, in the grand scale of the galaxy. It is very far away compared to Jupiter and Venus, however. Depending on where the planets are in their orbits, Venus is only 2 to 15 light minutes from Earth, and Jupiter is only 20 to 40 light minutes away.
 

Johannes Hevelius created one of the best loved collections of constellation drawings in 1687, called Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia. The beautiful images are now in the common domain. You can find them here.

Venus sets around 11 PM, and Jupiter sets just a half hour later. They will be visible in the west all of June. In fact, as the month progresses they will appear to be getting closer and closer together. On June 30 they will be less than a degree apart! Conjunctions between planets happen regularly, and are always beautiful and interesting to watch. Read here about a conjunction between Venus and Jupiter that was visible in the early morning last summer.

On June 30, Jupiter and Venus will appear very close together! Image Credit: Stellarium and me.

Venus and Jupiter will start setting with the Sun in early July, so catch them when you can! Never fear, they will be back in our skies again. Venus and Mars will be visible in the east before sunrise beginning in September, and Jupiter will be visible before sunrise in October. The three planets will all appear close together at the end of October. 

Have fun watching the planets do their cyclical dance around the Sun. If you would like to see them closer up, stop by Northmoor Observatory on cloudless Saturday nights this summer!

In case you missed the announcement, I will be leaving in just under two weeks to visit 3 observatories in Chile! Follow this blog if you are interested in seeing updates and pictures from my trip. You can also follow the Dome Planetarium on Facebook and Twitter.