Venus in 2005

Venus, after having been a prominent object in northern skies during the evenings (spring) and mornings (autumn) of 2004, sinks into relative obscurity throughout 2005.

Venus is at superior conjunction on March 31, 2005.

The planet passes below the Sun with a separation limb to limb of a little over 1 arc degree. Thereafter it is an evening object (scarcely visible to the eye until mid-May) making a laborious journey towards greatest eastern elongation on 3 November.

The reasons for this will be explained in detail in a feature for May 2005.

JV 29/03/05

Jupiter at Opposition 2005

Dia. 1: The night sky looking south at midnight on April 3rd 2005. Note: in these diagrams the stars just below the horizon line (marked in azimuth) are shown for convenience as indicating those stars seen a little before or after the time for which the diagram is given.

Jupiter comes to opposition on 3rd April.

Although not as bright as in the 2000 opposition, the planet still dominates the night sky south at around midnight.

Jupiter is now south of the celestial equator but in retrograde motion (E to W) until 2 June.

Its altitude will increase slightly over the following two months. Thereafter it is all down hill for northern observers.

Jupiter offers the opportunity for those unfamiliar with the spring sky to identify the constellations. Dia. 1 shows the sky looking south at midnight on 3rd April.

Arcturus is unmistakable as the brightest star in the northern hemisphere. Spica should be identified without difficulty. The three stars Arcturus, Spica and Denebola form an equilateral triangle. Thus having located Denebola one has the tail of the lion and the rest should be easy .

Not so easy to identify is the sprawling Hydra. The head looks the part (not to be confused with Serpens), but after that one must traverse a barren sky with only Alphard (the haydra's heart) to guide us.

Alphard (mag. 2.0) is an important navigational star. There are some sixty such stars spaced over the entire sky. Alphard is by no means the faintest. This distinction goes to Alwaid (beta Draconis, also known as Rastaban) mag 2.8.

Those interested in the derivation for star and constellation names should consult Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning - Richard Hinkley Adam, still available as a Dover Publication paperback.

I can think of no better reading for a murky, northern night!