Saturday evening September 1st look westward for the inner planet Venus to be within about 1.5o from the blue-white star Spica in the constellation Virgo the Harvest Maiden.
The pair should prove to be an interesting sight with binoculars or a wide-field telescope eyepiece. Venus shines with an apparent magnitude of -4.4, while Spica has an apparent magnitude of about 1.0.
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.
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Thursday December 22nd the planets Mars and Jupiter are aligned in an arrangement known as heliocentric opposition. The two planets are on opposite sides of the Sun and are approximately 180o apart in heliocentric longitude as measured around the celestial equator. Mars has a heliocentric longitude of approximately 10o, while Jupiter is at 190o. However the two planets are not necessarily at the same level (above or below) relative to the ecliptic. Both planets are south of the celestial equator with Mars at 