COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two of the naked eye planets will be in conjunction early in the week. Sunday morning before sunrise Mars and Jupiter will be extremely close in the sky.
The pair will be in the southeastern sky with Saturn just above and right of the pair. Lower in the sky and to the left you’ll find Venus, Mercury & the moon.
If you have a clear enough view of the horizon and you glimpse Mercury you can see all five of the “naked eye” planets in the sky.
Enjoy a darker sky this week with less light pollution. That’s because the new moon officially arrives at 7:30 a.m. Monday morning.
Look for a popular summertime constellation this week. Scorpius, or the Scorpion, will be rising in the southeastern sky through the evening. It’ll be fully visible by midnight.
This is the 33rd largest constellation and legend has it that it was sent to kill Orion, the greatest hunter in the world. Orion said that he’d kill any animal and this upset Artemis.
She sent the lowly scorpion to kill Orion and knock him down a peg. The gods put both in the night sky making Orion a winter constellation and Scorpius a summer constellation. The arachnid is perpetually chasing the hunter across the night sky.
When you find the constellation look for Antares, the “heart of the scorpion." It’s the brightest star in the constellation and is known as a red supergiant because it’s so big.
In fact, if you put it in the same spot as the Sun in our solar system it would stretch past the orbit of Mars.
Happy hunting!