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The heavens are putting on an interesting display at the moment. Jupiter, Venus, Uranus and Mercury have all lined up in a row. Two of these are easy to spot the others increasingly difficult.
If you look into the west at the moment you can see Venus shining brightly. It is currently just to the left of the Moon but of course the Moon will move away quickly so look for the planet not the moon if you are reading this later..
Top left of Venus is another bright planet, Jupiter, which through binoculars you should see some of its moons in the plane 11 to 5 o clock. A very few people can actually see these with the naked eye but the rest of us need some optical assistance.
Now here is the interesting bit. If you draw a line from Jupiter to Venus and carry it on just a little bit futher than Jupiter is from Venus you should in theory be able to see Uranus at that point. Through 10*50 binoculars it is supposed to look slightly blue.
I say supposed because you need a dark sky and at the moment the sun is still faintly shining over the horizon.
If you are able to look over the sea to the West then carrying on the line Jupiter-Venus-Uranus you should find Mercury just above the horizon. It is very low down so I doubt it is visible over land.
If anyone does see either of these rarely glimpsed planets please let us know.
If you look into the west at the moment you can see Venus shining brightly. It is currently just to the left of the Moon but of course the Moon will move away quickly so look for the planet not the moon if you are reading this later..
Top left of Venus is another bright planet, Jupiter, which through binoculars you should see some of its moons in the plane 11 to 5 o clock. A very few people can actually see these with the naked eye but the rest of us need some optical assistance.
Now here is the interesting bit. If you draw a line from Jupiter to Venus and carry it on just a little bit futher than Jupiter is from Venus you should in theory be able to see Uranus at that point. Through 10*50 binoculars it is supposed to look slightly blue.
I say supposed because you need a dark sky and at the moment the sun is still faintly shining over the horizon.
If you are able to look over the sea to the West then carrying on the line Jupiter-Venus-Uranus you should find Mercury just above the horizon. It is very low down so I doubt it is visible over land.
If anyone does see either of these rarely glimpsed planets please let us know.
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