What’s up in Tuarangi

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

Enjoy the night sky each week, as we give you the latest on stargazing.

SEE WITH THE NAKED EYE 

• The Sun is in the zodiacal constellation of Pisces.
• The Moon’s is currently in the phase of Waning Crescent. The next Full Moon will be Tuesday, April 27th.
• Mercury is in Pisces. Is 199 million kilometres from Earth, about 11 light minutes away.
• Venus is in Pisces, visually very close to the Sun. Is at 257 million kilometres from Earth or about 14 light minutes away.
• Mars is visually in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, at a distance of 279 million kilometres, or just about 15 light minutes away, visible at night.
• Jupiter is in the constellation of Capricornus at a real distance of 826 million kilometres or about 45 light minutes from Earth.
• Saturn is visually in Capricornus, very close to Jupiter and 1533 million kilometres away or 1.4 light-hours away.

SEE WITH BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPE

• Uranus is in Aries. It has a visual magnitude of +5.8 so under a very dark sky and if you have amazingly good eyes you might be able to see it with the naked eye. It’s 18 times further away from the Sun than the Earth. Light from Uranus travels for two and a half hours to reach our eyes here on Earth. We cannot see details on Uranus with a telescope on Earth.
• Neptune is in Aquarius. It’s 29 times further away from the Sun than the Earth. Light takes approximately 4 hours to reach us from Neptune. At a visual magnitude of +8.0 you will need binoculars or telescopes to see it. From this distance, a telescope on Earth cannot see details of on the planet.
• Pluto in Sagittarius is very close to Jupiter. We cannot see Pluto with the naked eye, as it has a magnitude of +14.4. 34 times further away from the Sun than the Earth, it takes light more than 4 hours and a half to reach us from Pluto. From this distance, a telescope on Earth cannot see details on the dwarf planet.

Of course, none of the planets make light of their own, what we see are the features of each planet illuminated by the light from the Sun that gets reflected by our Solar System companions.

After dark adaptation and under the very best observing conditions, the average limiting magnitude of the human eye is about magnitude 6.5.