SkyandTelescope.com Weekly Bulletin for Friday, May 17, 2013

[Sam Wormley]

> SkyandTelescope.com Weekly Bulletin
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> News
> ========================================
> Kepler Goes Down — and Probably Out
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> May 15, 2013 | NASA's revolutionary planet-hunting spacecraft suffered malfunction this week that leaves it unable to point precisely at its target stars.
> Read More at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Kepler-Goes-Down-mdash-and-Probably-Out-207649481.html
>
> Digitizing Harvard's Century of Sky
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> May 14, 2013 | Harvard College Observatory is digitizing its famed collection of more than 500,000 glass sky-survey plates and has just released the first data set.
> Read More at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Digitizing-Harvards-Century-of-Sky-207381961.html
>
> A Cosmic Sleight of Hand
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> May 10, 2013 | Astronomers have been waiting for our galaxy's slumbering supermassive black hole to stir for a snack. Instead, the universe handed them a different treat.
> Read More at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/A-Cosmic-Sleight-of-Hand-206975291.html
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> Observing
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> The May-June 2013 Planet Dance
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> February 20, 2013 | A remarkable series of events takes place low in the west-northwest shortly after sunset from late May to late June. It features the tightest three-planet grouping visible without binoculars until 2026 and an excellent apparition of Mercury.
> Read More at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/The-May-June-2013-Planet-Dance-192020551.html
>
> Tour May's Sky by Eye and Ear!
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> April 26, 2013 | Saturn rises in early evening and is visible throughout May. And a remarkable gathering of Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury sparkles low in the west toward month's end.
> Read More at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/observingblog/Tour-Mays-Sky-by-Eye-and-Ear-199929761.html
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> Community
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> TWAN's Earth & Sky Contest Winners
> ----------------------------------------
> May 17, 2013 | From the city lights nestled between Alpine peaks to a single image that captures stars, an aurora, and a meteor, The World At Night's 2013 astrophoto contest is full of startling vistas.
> Read More at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/observingblog/TWANs-Earth--Sky-Contest-Winners-207862871.html
>
>
> This Week's Sky at a Glance
> ========================================
> This Week's Sky at a Glance
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> May 17, 2013 | Three naked-eye planets tighten up together low in the sunset this week, the full Moon occults a star of Scorpius, and Chi Cygni is unusually bright.
> Read More at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/letsgo/whatsuptonight/207909921.html
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> Brand new!
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> Mars Elevation Globe
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> https://www.shopatsky.com/product/mars-topography-globe/new-arrivals
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> SaturnMoons App
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> SaturnMoons App
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> SkyWeek Plus App
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> SkyWeek Plus App
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> Brand New!
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> Beautiful Universe 2013
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> http://www.shopatsky.com/product/beautiful-universe-2013/new-arrivals
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[oriel36]

On May 17, 10:30 pm, Sam Wormley <sworml...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > The May-June 2013 Planet Dance
> > ----------------------------------------
> > February 20, 2013 |  A remarkable series of events takes place low in the west-northwest shortly after sunset from late May to late June. It features the tightest three-planet grouping visible without binoculars until 2026 and an excellent apparition of Mercury.

> > Read More at:http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/The-May-June-2013...
>

It is a shame that astronomy is still under the dominance of
homocentric descriptions when there is so many tools available to make
sense of what is happening with the planets Jupiter,Venus and Mercury
from both a moving Earth and the moving planets themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MdFrE7hWj0A

http://www.theplanetstoday.com/

Viewers are seeing Mercury swing around the Sun to its widest point
and then swing back into the Sun in its annual circuit just as Venus
does so -

http://www.masil-astro-imaging.com/SWI/UV%20montage%20flat.jpg

The faster orbital motion of the Earth eventually puts Jupiter behind
the glare of the central Sun as in a line of sight feature that can be
seen in the online orrery above.

With so many centuries working with the homocentric rotating celestial
sphere framework working against you,it is no wonder that you miss the
opportunities available to the modern viewer in making sense of the
motions of the planets to the moving Earth and around the central Sun
rather than to each other.