View larger. | This chart - from astronomer Guy Ottewell - shows the 2 brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, now in the west after sunset. The arrows through the moving bodies – planets and sun – show their movement over a span of 5 days, in front of the starry background. Notice Saturn, too, higher up on the ecliptic. Thank you, Guy!
It'll be grand viewing Venus and Jupiter in the west after sunset this weekend, and into early next week. They're the 3rd- and 4th-brightest sky objects, after the sun and moon ... very close together now. Their conjunction is Sunday. Read more and see photos here.
The Curiosity Mars rover discovered oxygen at its location, behaving in ways that haven't yet been explained by any known atmospheric or chemical process. Read more.
Okay, guys. Looks like the Unicorn meteor burst was a dud. Oh well. We tried! A few people did report seeing some meteors … Greg Hogan of Kathleen, Georgia, sent in this photo, saying this was the best image he got during the shower. He said he saw about 15 meteors total between 10:30 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. Thursday night and Friday morning. That’s in contrast to a prediction – for Greg’s part of the globe – of about 75 meteors total. Thank you, Greg!
