What's in the sky tonight?
July 28, 2012
-Fiery Antares shines lower right of the waxing gibbous Moon tonight.
-Venus and Jupiter (magnitudes –4.6 and –2.2) shine dramatically in the east before and during dawn, as shown at right. They've widened to about 14° apart now, with Jupiter higher. Look for Aldebaran, much fainter, lower right of Jupiter. Also near Jupiter are the Hyades, and higher above are the Pleiades.
The asteroids Ceres and Vesta, magnitudes 9.1 and 8.4, are in the area too!
Astro Picture of the Day:
July 28, 2012
Source:
Brilliant Venus and bright Jupiter still rise together before dawn. The peaceful waters by a small lakeside house near Stuttgart, Germany reflect their graceful arcing trails in this composited series of exposures, recorded on the morning of July 26. A reflection of planet Earth's rotation on its axis, the concentric trails of these celestial beacons along with trails of stars are punctuated at their ends by a separate final frame in the morning skyview. Easy to pick out, Venus is brightest and near the trees close to the horizon. Jupiter arcs above it, toward the center of the image along with the compact Pleiades star cluster and V-shaped Hyades anchored by bright star Aldebaran. One trail looks wrong, though. Not concentric with the others and so not a reflection of Earth's rotation, the International Space Station streaks off the right side of this scene, glinting in sunlight as it orbits planet Earth.