Sky Spy
: Enjoy the beauty of morning sky
By Tim Hunter
Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.30.2009
The morning sky before sunrise is always beautiful. The constellations that rise ahead of the sun foretell the evening sky several months later.
Now is a good time to enjoy the brightest planets.
If you look east at 5 a.m., you will be rewarded with the ever-brilliant Venus almost directly due east.
Below Venus, somewhat hidden in the morning twilight, is red Mars.
Jupiter is higher above the horizon and toward the southeast.
Venus is the third-brightest object in the sky, after the sun and the moon. Jupiter is the fourth-brightest. Sometimes Mars will be as bright as Jupiter, but not often.
In this, the International Year of Astronomy, it is all the more fun to look at Jupiter and wonder how surprised Galileo was when he turned his primitive telescope to observe Jupiter for the first time in 1609. His discovery of four satellites (now called the Galilean moons in his honor) circling Jupiter caused a fundamental change in the way mankind looks at itself and its place in the solar system.
Galileo's observations of the moon, Venus, the sun and the Milky Way with his telescopes, coupled with his writings, started the modern scientific revolution.
Jupiter has many moons, but most are too small and faint to be seen with ordinary telescopes. However, its Galilean moons are visible through the smallest of telescopes and are even visible in large binoculars, especially if the binoculars are held steady by a tripod. Give it a try.
Tim Hunter has been an amateur astronomer since grade school. Contact him at skyspy@azstarnet.com.
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