At 02:07 PM 4/26/02 -0700, Joe Orman wrote: > >Mercury is now easily visible with the other planets in the western sky after sunset. All 5 unaided-eye planets are now within 45 degrees of each other along the ecliptic. This web page by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is one of the best I've seen on the planetary alignment, with a graphic for every evening between now and May 18: >http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/grandtour/allcharts.html Nice charts, but I wonder why they took such artistic license with the portrayal of Orion. The planets and the Hyades are in about the correct orientation for an observer at 35-40 degrees north latitude. Orion is much too close to the planets and too "upright" for this latitude. Orion set almost like this from 60 degrees north, but earlier in the year, before it's swallowed up by the lengthy Spring twilight. Same deal with Gemini in the May charts. Tom --- Tom Polakis Tempe, AZ Arizona Sky Pages http://www.psiaz.com/polakis/ -- This message is from the AZ-Observing mailing list. See this message's header if you want info about unsubscribing or the list's archive. This is a discussion list. Please send personal inquiries directly to the message author. In other words, do not use "reply" for personal messages. Thanks.