By Larry Berz
ALERT: Weather permitting and sincerely appealing, a most remarkable parade of planetary partners will appeal to your personal view screen during most of June. During the wonderfully warm summertime, two planets – voluptuous Venus and midget Mercury – will offer a sky show for serious community consideration. Anyone of virtually any age can relish this rare planetary duet where these two western “headlights” will shuffle a mere finger span or two in northwestern skies.
So stay tuned and enjoy this waltz of wonder. They stand out as relatively rare groupings which delight our eyes every few years.
WHAT TO DO: Discover a clear northwestern horizon near your home or favorite park or play field. In Caribou, for example, the parking lot of the National Weather station serves such a purpose. Keep it clear of obstructing houses, trees and commercial centers. Claim your ground in advance of your actual observation and in full daylight. This will ensure your convenient and safe setup for the night(s) of your observations.
With the arrival of the summer solstice, your experience will occur in moderately bright twilight following sunset time, nearing 8:30-9 p.m. Patience now! Within 45 minutes or so following sunset, quite low toward the northwestern horizon, your encounter begins. Do not let occasional clouds unnerve your determination. Venus should shine rather brightly as a golden evening “star.” Smaller Mercury will appear to the upper left of Venus, fainter, ruddier, but still unmistakable during the first 10 days of the June. Throughout mid-June, Mercury will dip toward Venus but start to fade away. By month’s end, the dance concludes, leaving a radiant Venus to take final bows as she conducts a solo show for the rest of 2013 in west, southwestern skies.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED: Although unaided eyes will carefully pick out both Venus (easy) and Mercury (moderately challenging), a pair of binoculars will greatly enhance your acuity, activity, and, above all, enjoyment. Each planet will appear star-like, and yet reveal unique coloration.
Venus tends towards the creamy-yellow (like a soft lemon cookie) while Mercury, to this observer over the years, gleams more ruddy and orange-hued. A telescope will magnify the scene, showing a almost full-phase for Venus and perhaps, just perhaps a wonderfully tiny crescent Mercury by mid-month.
For more ambitious observers and students: bring some 3×5 notecards to record your observations, especially including the precise time, the accurate direction and the weather conditions. Photographers and related image enthusiasts may attempt to permanently record the view. And, of course, bring a supply of bug spray and a flashlight, dimmed with some red cellophane. Even a small tape recorder or related “smartphone” appliance may come in handy to preserve an audio memory. Stay aware of all environmental cues including clouds, sky shades, twilight, sounds, and human response.
WHY?: Like all disciplines, observing the dance of the planets will sharpen your senses, acuity, and enlarge your personal participation within our place in universal space. We are perhaps the only local conscious force within this solar system attempting to give expression to itself. So do your part!
And above all, clear skies! If overcast conditions spoil your particular room with a view, maintain the steadfast attitude of the indomitable Sir Winston Churchill: “We will never surrender.”
Larry Berz of Caribou is director of Easton’s Francis Malcolm Planetarium and astronomy instructor at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.
