Planets in Alignment

The planets were in perfect alignment tonight, creating the scenario for what I consider to be a personal milestone. In order for me to have known what to do, I needed to know exactly what positions two of those planets would be in. Once I knew, it was just a matter of having the opportunity to strike. Tonight, just after sunset, came that chance.

No, I am not talking about astrology, but astronomy. I had earlier consulted an astronomy website, not a horoscope, to find out that Venus would be high in the western sky just after sunset. And down a little, to its right in the sky would appear the elusive little planet of Mercury, shining with first magnitude brightness. I was walking to my car when I just happened to glance westward, seeing Venus. And then I remembered about Mercury. And saw it clearly as well. Then, as I was driving westward, the two were there, high in the sky (I was surprised a little about Mercury being that far up). So what, you might say.

I began star-gazing when I was seven, back in the spring of 1964. Yet I have never seen Mercury directly. Until now in 2010! And then it hit me: how many people can actually claim to have seen (and identified) Mercury in their lifetimes? Probably very few. So I wonder…

Have you ever seen AND identified the following by direct observation:

Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
The Milky Way
Betelgeuse
Sirius
Canopus
Rigel
Vega
Arcturus
Leo
Orion
Orion’s Belt
The Big Dipper (part of Ursa Major)
Scorpius
The Little Dipper (Ursa Minor)
Polaris (the North Star)
The Pleiades

I’ll bet, with the possible exceptions of Venus and the Big Dipper, the overwhelming majority of the population has identified NONE of the above through simple observation. Sure, people look up into the night sky and see bright stars, some of which to them may seem so bright that they know that they are (probably) planets. But which planets?

So although it has taken me 46 years to observe and identify Mercury, I think I’m still way ahead of the game in comparison to everyone else. But then again, general disinterest in astronomy is one of reasons why we are sadly earthbound in our space program, this after landing successfully on the moon on and safely returning on six different occasions four decades ago!