Everything you always wanted to know about astronomy
By Bruce Dennis

Bruce Dennis is a retired scence teacher from Haverling High School.

The first planet that you'll notice in the darkening skies just after sunset, is Venus. It will be very low near the west-southwest horizon. Mercury will join Venus during the first couple weeks of the month. Near dawn, Jupiter will rise very low in the south-southeast, followed by Mars, which rises even lower about the time the Sun is going to rise. Saturn, the 'star' of the month, will glow above the Eastern horizon at Sunset, and shines all night long.

Climbing a little higher each night when it rises, Venus will be a bit boring to the novice astronomer - a round, featureless orb showing no structure (no mountains, valleys, or plains), not even a shadow. On February 7th, about the thickness of a credit card (at the end of an lout-stretched arm) to the South of Venus, will be a tiny dim spot - Uranus. It will be necessary to use your telescope or binoculars for this. It's a challenge. Good luck!

Mercury will be to the lower right of Venus on the 4th. On the 7th, Mercury sets about 11/2 hours after the Sun, but will set sooner over the next couple weeks until we can't see it anymore. Kin its orbit around the Sun, it situates itself between the Earth and the Sun. We can only 'see' the dark side, and it'll be during the day. I don't think so.

Saturn will rise in the East at sunset and be visible all night. Because of the eccentricity of the elliptical orbits, Saturn will be closer to the Earth this month than it has in several years. It'll be 20 years before it'll be this close again. Its closeness results in its brightness and apparent big size in a telescope. Be sure you observe its huge disc and glorious rings this month. Saturn is still in retrograde motion (moving to the West relative to the other stars), but will return to its usual motion in April.

Jupiter is 6 times brighter than Saturn, but doesn't rise (in the East) until about 3:30 AM on February 1st. By March 1st, it rises about 2 AM, but is still very low. Because it remains so low in the sky, it is not the perfect subject for telescopic intrigue - too much atmosphere to look through. The next couple months will be much better to view Jupiter.

Look very low in the Eastsoutheast sky about 11/2 hours before Sunrise - that little dot is Mars! Use binoculars. Even with a powerful telescope, the Red Planet will only be an orange dot -- a big change from last summer.

On February 2nd, the moon (almost full) will pass to the lower left of Saturn when it rises at twilight. The new moon is on February 17th. Two days later, the small crescent moon will pass about a finger-width to the upper right of Venus at nightfall. The Moon and the Pleiades almost tough on the 23rd.

As a celestial observer, you might be interested in the website www:calSKY.com . Sometimes 40 times brighter than Venus, this website can tell you when and where you can observe the sunlight glints off communication satellites. Go to another website,

www:heavens-above.com for preditions of these. This website is part encyclopedia and part almanac, with finder charts for comets and asteroids, and a way to determine when the International Space Station or the Space Shuttle is to cross the face of the Sun or Moon.

Many of you have, once again, voiced your positive opinions of this column. I have also received some negative responses like, "it is too technical for me to understand." Please read each column in its entirety, and try the suggested activities - before deciding that it is too hard or difficult. Professionals and novices alike have viewed the same stars and planets for centuries. Everyone stated knowing nothing. Keep building on that. Happy viewing.