Posts Tagged ‘greatest elongation’
Sky Tonight—Tuesday, March 22, Mercury farthest from
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org Mercury, the solar system’s innermost planet, never strays far from the sun and into Earth’s nighttime sky. Today, however, this world reaches its greatest elongation east of the sun at 7 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. Mercury swings to the end of its tether, at 19 degrees east of the sun. (For reference, your fist at an arm’s length approximates 10 degrees of sky.) Nineteen degrees east of the sun is not very ... Full Story
Sky Tonight—January 7, Venus farthest west of sun in
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org The most brilliant of all the planets, Venus, reaches its farthest point west of the sun in Earth’s sky on January 8, 2011. Astronomers call this a “greatest elongation” of Venus. At such times, Venus shines as the brilliant morning ’star’ in the east before sunrise. At its greatest morning elongation, Venus typically rises 3 hours or more before sunrise. Because the orbit of Venus lies inside of ... Full Story
