Is Saturn in the sky tonight, what other planets are?

[lennon890]

I was wonderng if Saturn is in the sky tonight, If so where about?

Also does anybody know of anything that is happening on the 24th of August that me and my friends could view through my new SkyWatcher Skywatcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2? Does anybody know when the ISS is visible from Earth aswell?

These questions probably seem slightly stupid but i'm only asking them as i haven't been able to find the information any where else.

Thank You,

-Lennon890

[ncjunk]

Saturn is sinking below the western horizon as we speak so that is not visible I am afraid.

Neil C

[DAVPPK]

Hi len, try Stellarium, that should give plenty, and its free!!!!!

Hope this helps

Dave

[ashenlight]

Hi Lennon

Unfortunately, Saturn is just too low to be visible from the UK (I hope that is where you are!) so it's a no-no for the ringed planet. However, Jupiter is visible tonight and will continue to be visible throughout the autumn winter, how about you give that a go? Look to the south east around half 11/ midnight tonight. Jupiter is the bright yellow-orange-white star, shining very bright, about 'half way up' the sky. It is unmistakable

On what to view on the 24th, are you looking for general objects like nebula, galaxies etc, or were you looking for something more specific? The Perseid meteor shower is over by then, so there is nothing 'special' going on, so to speak - but all the usual delights will still be on show! Grab yourself a star map and try out the following:

M31

M13

M57

M27

the double star Albireo

Jupiter

that should give you something to start off with! How about trying to locate them yourself first, just to see how you get on with using the new scope

Here's a couple of things you could try out to improve your observing

Download the free planetarium software Stellarium - it is entirely free and the best piece of kit the beginner could have, in my opinion. Just set it up to your location using your longitude and latitude coordinates (you can find these out using google) and you are good to go - it gives you a real time representation of the night sky from your location showing you everything from the phase of the Moon to deep sky objects you can observe when the conditions are right. Give it a go! It's so useful as you can 'fast fowards' time to see where things will be places at a given date - perfect for planning those observing sessions with your friends!

Secondly, set up an account at Heavens-Above Home Page . This gives you details of visible passes of not only the ISS but iridium flares and satellites aswell. It is brilliant - it is completely free to use and a brilliant piece of kit.

Hope that helps! Any questions just ask

[ncjunk]

You see...I thought I would do the quick reply and then write something more substantial about Jupiter and other stuff then read the above.

Wot Ashenlight said.....

[mdstuart]

Jupiter is up now to the east, really bright. Mars and Venus are up in the early hours if you want to wait up!

[Leegsi]

If you have clear sky's and look at Jupiter you should see the moons and see a few dark lines across it that are the bands.

Might be worth setting it up and have a play whilst we have a few days of good sky's

[Doc]

Amanda has given you some great links and deep space objects to hunt down.

As for planets the ones visible from Rising in the East are in order:

Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus, Mars and Venus. Of course Neptune and Uranus are very hard to spot and you will need detailed maps.

Have fun.

[Milliways]

Mars is on show also at around 3-4 am so lots of coffee