LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, September 19, 2012. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:

The ringed planet, Saturn, can still be found low in the west-southwest during evening twilight. Look 30 minutes after sunset to see Saturn 15 degrees (1½ times the size of your clenched fist as seen from arm’s length) above the horizon, and 5½ degrees above Virgo the Maiden’s brightest star, Spica. Saturn sets at about 8:30 p.m.

The planet Mars, now in Libra the Scales, can also be seen during twilight, 20 degrees high in the southwest and 16 degrees to the upper left of Saturn. Mars sets at about 9:15 p.m.

The bright planet Jupiter, in Taurus the Bull, rises in the east-northeast at about 11:00 p.m. Jupiter is visible for the next 7 hours until it appears high in the south before sunrise. Through a telescope, Jupiter presents a noticeably oval disk, thickest through its equator. Dark cloud belts between bright cloud zones lie parallel to the planet’s equator, and the four largest moons are bright enough to see in steadily held binoculars.

Look for the brightest planet, Venus, in the east-northeast after it rises at about 3:15 a.m. By sunrise, the planet is 41 degrees high in the east, a little less than halfway between the horizon and the overhead point. On Friday the 14th, binoculars will show the Beehive star cluster (M44) to the upper left of Venus, in the same field of view.

The waning crescent moon can be found below Venus in the dawn until Friday the 14th. The moon is new on the following day. It re-appears in the west-southwest in waxing crescent phase, below Saturn and Spica, at dusk on Monday the 17th.

A rocket launch may be visible from Southern California on Thursday, September 13. A Navy reconnaissance satellite (designated NROL 36) and 11 tiny satellites (called “CubeSats”) will hitch rides aboard an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg, Air Force Base, California. After launch, scheduled to take place within a 30 minute period starting at 2:39 p.m., P.D.T., the flame of the rocket may be visible to Los Angeles area residents as it arcs up from the west to the southwest. A good plan is to monitor live coverage of the launch on www.spaceflightnow.com and look in the sky as soon as launch has occurred.

The International Space Station should make two prominent morning showings this week, visible from Los Angeles. The first is on Friday the 14th. Between 5:29 and 5:35 a.m., the Space Station (possibly outshining Jupiter) will cross the sky from the south-southwest to the east-northeast, and will appear 45 degrees high in the southeast at 5:31 a.m., P.D.T. On Sunday the 16th, the ISS will emerge out of earth’s shadow when 32 degrees above the western horizon at 5:29 a.m. A minute later it will be 45 degrees high in the west-northwest before descending toward the northeast for the next three minutes.

Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather five days a week (Wednesday-Sunday) through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next Griffith Observatory public star party, hosted by Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society is scheduled for Saturday, September 22.

From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.