Jupiter, Venus and the moon

[Jane Houston Jones]

  The last weekend of both November and December will be fantastic times 
to see the solar system from your own backyard.

Step outside at dusk on November 29th and try to see the slender 
crescent moon below and to the right of the pair of planets.  If you 
don't see the moon on the 29th, try again on the 30th when the moon will 
be larger and easier to see just a little below the two planets. Jupiter 
is larger, but Venus is brighter because it is closer to the Sun. 

On December 1st, you'll see that the moon is now above Jupiter and Venus.
Throughout December Venus rises higher in the sky while Jupiter sinks 
toward the horizon.  We won't see the king of the planets again in the 
early evening sky until next summer. Star charts courtesy of NASA/JPL.

Next weekend is our sidewalk astronomy weekend.  We'll be changing the 
venue Friday night - moving from Old Town Pasadena, our usual location, 
to Farnsworth Park in Altadena.  We'll be sharing the telescope stage 
with John Sepikas from PCC's Astronomy Department on Friday night from 
6-8 p.m.  Farnsworth Park is located at 568 E. Mount Curve Ave., 
Altadena, 91001, (626) 798-6335.  Weather permitting, of course.

Saturday night we'll be out in full force in Monrovia 6-9 p.m. Myrtle 
and Lime Streets. Hope to see you!  This will be a great night to see 
many types of telescopes, ask questions, find out how much  the 
different telescopes cost, and drop telescope and accessory hints to 
Santa. :-)

Enjoy this weekend's planetary lineup and see you next weekend!  Jane 
and Mojo

-- 
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers:  http://www.otastro.org
What's Up Podcast: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/janehoustonjones

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