Special Sky Show Early Monday

If you are willing to get up very early Monday morning, you will be treated to a spectacular sky show.

First, a crescent moon will be paired with a beautiful planet Venus in the east before sunrise.

Just above them, a pale yellow Saturn will hang with its spectacular rings visible by telescope.

Next, a bright, orange Mars will be visible above Saturn.

If that were not enough, the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle with provide fabulous exclamation points. The Shuttle will undock from the ISS for the long trip back to Earth at 4:32 a.m. CST. The pair should be visible over Birmingham starting at 4:49 a.m. CST from what I can tell. They will be visible at two distinct points of light moving across the sky, extering from the south southwest and exiting to the east.

I am not expert at this part of it, so I ask our educated star gazing readers to correct any wrong information I might be imparting. I got my sighting times from the NASA Skywatch applet.

Finally, the exploding comet 17P/Holmes will be visible in the western sky.

The weather will cooporate with clear and cool conditions.

Here is a link to the NASA story.

Enjoy!

Category: Pre-November 2010 Posts