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Star Gazer
updated: Aug 09, 2012, 9:52 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

Does anyone know what the constellation is to the West around 9pm that forms a near perfect triangle? I looked up the Summer Triangle, but the angle looks off. I don't have the capability to take a picture of it.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

MACPUZL	2012-08-09 11:38 PM
What you are seeing is a conjunction of sorts between Saturn, Mars, and the bright star Spica. Saturn is the yellowish one at the top (North) of the triangle. Mars is the reddish one to the right (West). Spica is the lower left (Southeast). Saturn tonight was 941 million miles away - about an hour and 24 minutes of light travel time. Mars was about 157 million miles and 14 minutes of light travel time. Spica is about 260 light years away, far in the background. There are about 6,000,000,000,000 miles in a light year. If you watch over the coming weeks, you'll be able to see Mars move East and go between Saturn and Spica. Come to the SBMNH Astrovaganza star party on Saturday night, and you can get closeups through telescopes. Saturn is pretty spectacular.
COMMENT 306627	2012-08-10 06:22 AM
Great program for amateur star gazers: http://www.stellarium.org/
COMMENT 306643	2012-08-10 06:57 AM
Macpuzl: What time at the MNH? and thanks for your explanation!
COMMENT 306659	2012-08-10 07:21 AM
i love edhat. i was in my hot tub last night looking at that and wondering what it was. now i can go on with my day.
COMMENT 306664	2012-08-10 07:33 AM
MACPUZL: Thanks for a real explanation! Its refreshing compared to the usual Snarky-ness
COMMENT 306677	2012-08-10 07:50 AM
If you have an iPhone there are a bunch of nite sky Apps that will answer all your star questions. You hold the phone to any particular point in the sky and it will tell you exactly what you are looking at. It's really amazing!
COMMENT 306678	2012-08-10 07:51 AM
If you have a smart phone, the Google sky app is pretty cool. Point your phone camera in the direction of the constellation and it will show up on your phone screen with the names of the stars and planets.
COMMENT 306695	2012-08-10 08:08 AM
Tuesday night I saw it and wondered why it was unfamiliar. Thanks Mac. Also, at one point I looked at it and it had become a 4 "star" trapezoid. After a few seconds I saw it was the space station coming into view. Double cool.
COMMENT 306738	2012-08-10 09:09 AM
Just wanted to chime in & say this was an awesome thread. Thanks to the OP & Macpuzl, especially!
MACPUZL	2012-08-10 09:13 AM
The Astrovaganza event at SBMNH (also on the Edhat Events page) on Saturday is an all day event, with solar scopes and astro activities between 10 AM and 4 PM, including a free raffle for an 8-inch telescope. Then, between 6 PM and 10 PM, there will be a giveaway of some small telescopes for youngsters, followed by a star party with telescope viewing of the night sky. The evening star party is free.
COMMENT 306815	2012-08-10 10:45 AM
This is what Edhat should be about! People helping and enlightening each other. We have to find away for more of this and less snarkey pointless posts. Are you listening Edhat editors?
COMMENT 306831	2012-08-10 11:09 AM
Stellarium is a really good (and free) PC program that will tell you what's up in the night sky. It's fun to zoom into a planet like Saturn and then see all the moons. You can also toggle on/off options like constellations, constellation artwork, names of stars, etc. It runs in real-time but you can also fast-forward or reverse time to see what's in the sky at different times. Highly recommended.
COMMENT 306936P	2012-08-10 02:18 PM
Love the star parties and have been attending them for many years -- my daughter goes to college on the east coast and is flying home tomorrow before going back east for the fall term. She asked me a couple of days ago if we could go to the star party if she's not too tired tomorrow night!
COMMENT 306959	2012-08-10 03:08 PM
OP here - thank you so much for the information, Macpuzl! We've been pouring over maps for the past couple of evenings trying to figure it out. How often does this convergence happen? We'd love to go tomorrow, but are attending a wedding. Sigh. We'll keep our eye out for the next Astrovaganza!
MACPUZL	2012-08-10 03:53 PM
OP - Well, about every 2 years Mars will pass somewhere by Saturn in the sky; it's just not always at a nice time of night. There are star parties at the Museum on the second Saturday of each month, weather permitting. Regularly scheduled star parties each month, like SBMNH, Westmont, and Camino Real Marketplace, are on the Edhat Events page, marked "ASTRONOMY". Other local astronomy events can be found at www.sbau.org

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