Planets Pair Off in Evening and Predawn Skies

Following night after night of overcast skies here in Gainesville, I finally got the opportunity to enjoy a clear, unobstructed view of the evening August sky…and the predawn sky as well.  There is a tie-in between the two, as four planets have paired off to put on a kind of celestial show.  Just before sunrise, if you look toward the east, you should find (assuming clear skies) two very bright looking stars close to each other.  But they’re not stars, but rather the planets Jupiter and Venus.  And in the evening sky, looking toward the south-southwest, you can also see what appears to be two very bright stars…but by now you know I’m also talking about planets, these being Mars and Saturn (Mars is the one to the north).  They are located in the relatively faint zodiac constellation of Libra. In ancient times, Libra was simply the claws in the adjacent constellation of Scorpius (the Scorpion).  As a matter of fact, Libra’s two brightest stars are named Zeubeneschamali and Zeubenelgenubi, which mean, respectively, “northern claw” and “southern claw”.  If you look around Mars and Saturn you’ll most likely see these two, dim by comparison with the planets.

I like the summer night sky, remembering nights in south Florida when I would spend a good amount of time examining the sky.  For some reason, I tend to notice more random meteors this time of year, and the phenomenon of summer lightning, when the sky is absolutely devoid of clouds, is an eerie experience.  Only drawback: mosquitos…