Jupiter, Venus and the moon

The last weekend of both November and December will be fantastic times to see the solar system from your own backyard. Step outside at dusk on November 29th and try to see the slender crescent moon below and to the right of the pair of planets. If you don't see the moon on the 29th, try again on the 30th when the moon will be larger and easier to see just a little below the two planets. Jupiter is larger, but Venus is brighter because it is closer to the Sun. On December 1st, you'll see that the moon is now above Jupiter and Venus. Throughout December Venus rises higher in the sky while Jupiter sinks toward the horizon. We won't see the king of the planets again in the early evening sky until next summer. Star charts courtesy of NASA/JPL. Next weekend is our sidewalk astronomy weekend. We'll be changing the venue Friday night - moving from Old Town Pasadena, our usual location, to Farnsworth Park in Altadena. We'll be sharing the telescope stage with John Sepikas from PCC's Astronomy Department on Friday night from 6-8 p.m. Farnsworth Park is located at 568 E. Mount Curve Ave., Altadena, 91001, (626) 798-6335. Weather permitting, of course. Saturday night we'll be out in full force in Monrovia 6-9 p.m. Myrtle and Lime Streets. Hope to see you! This will be a great night to see many types of telescopes, ask questions, find out how much the different telescopes cost, and drop telescope and accessory hints to Santa. :-) Enjoy this weekend's planetary lineup and see you next weekend! Jane and Mojo -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org What's Up Podcast: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones Facebook: http://www.facebook.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/janehoustonjones