Look at the arrangement of the planets in the graphics below. One of the defining aspects of our solar system is the arrangement of the planets outward from the Sun. Not by size or distance but rather how their respective orbital paths around the Sun are all vertically arranged near the Earth’s orbital path, or as it is typically referred to as the Ecliptic or the Plane of the Ecliptic. The 8 classic planets all orbit the Sun with an orbital path that is up to about 8^o from the ecliptic. This is called inclination. The table shows inclination relative the Earth’s orbit and also relative to the Sun’s center, its equator.
    Click on this link to read a previous posting (Tales Along the Ecliptic) about the ecliptic and inclination.
   During this week as the Moon moves eastward it will pass by the outer ringed planet Neptune Tuesday and Wednesday evenings September 1^st and 2^nd as the graphics show. However given the tremendous difference in apparent magnitude between the two (full Moon: -12.64 ; Neptune: 7.81) Neptune will not be visible, at least not while the Moon in nearby.

   Keep following the Moon as it orbits eastward toward the planet Mars when on September 5^th Mars and the waning gibbous Moon will be less than 1^o apart.
   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

Also Follow me and other great resources at Feedspot.