Well. I'll run the risk of being shot down for asking people to look at the sky between 6am and 7am again, rather than the "normal" time of between 7pm and 11pm, but here goes nothing, because, this is WORTH looking at, in my opinion.
The Geminids (meteor shower) should be around their peak tonight, so are deservedly getting a lot of "press".
Mars is the most spectacular it will be for around 8 years I think, so thats worth gazing at too - though you can hardly miss it!
And Venus - well she's just showing off again in the night sky!
But there is another real showpiece in the sky at present - Saturn - and its well worth a look through a small scope or very powerful (tripod) binoculars or certainly a bird-spotting scope.
06:30 am (roughly) in Britain.
Mars low in WNW (roughly). Bright and orange.
Venus low in SE (roughly). Very bright and white.
Draw an imaginary line between Mars and Venus.
Along that line, and roughly in the SSW and higher than Mars, you'll see 3 "stars" in a large triangle.
The bottom 2 of those are roughly on that imaginary line you've "drawn".
The RHS of those stars is the star REGULUS in the constellation
Leo.
The LHS of those stars, slightly more yellow then
regulus, is no star. Its
SATURN.
Point your bird spotting scope at it (if you've not got an astronomical telescope) and you'll be rewarded (when its focused!) with a wonderful view of Saturn and her rings - a really stunning night-time showpiece of the sky.
The rings at the moment are a little bit "side-on" if you catch my drift, so not the ideal time to look at Saturn - but I promise you it will be well worth it!
Doug
