Caoimhín's Content

We are finally coming up to the parade of planets. The full parade of planets with Mercury and Saturn above the horizon should be visible from as early as this weekend, if you are in the right location. We will be going through the potential view for a few southerly latitudes in today’s piece.

To begin with, we will take a look at sunset on Saturday the 22nd of February, this weekend, from here in Ireland. If we take a closer look in the west just after 6 o’clock, we have Mercury. Saturn won’t be visible just yet, with the glow of the sunset in the sky, but pushing forward to about 6:30 and there’s Saturn. It looks like Mercury and Saturn, even though they’re not particularly close and even though you have to wait until Mercury is very close to the horizon, they are both visible in the sky at the same time from as early as this weekend. If we look forward towards the 26th, we can see that our will get a little bit better. Mercury will be a little bit further from the Sun, so we have longer to leave them get lower, as long as you don’t have a bush or anything in your way.

In a recent piece we took a look at the parade of planets from closer to the equator ad lower Northern latitudes. In another, even more recent piece, we took a look at the southern hemisphere’s view of Valentine’s night’s sunset, or the sunset at the end of Valentine’s Day, however you’d like to phrase it. That piece reminded me that the southern hemisphere is in a different season right now. We are going from winter into summer, we are in springtime, or just at the start of springtime depending on how you do your calendar. We are in springtime moving into summertime while the Southern hemisphere is in autumn moving into winter time. We are both just past our cross-quarter days. The 1st of February, also known as St. Brigid’s Day or Imbolc, is a cross quarter day. This means we have just gotten closer to the equinox that will mark the point where days start getting longer than nights than we are to the shortest night. That’s a little bit long winded, but either way we are coming up to the equinox in March. We’re not there yet which means that we are still, in terms of how long the nights and days are, closer to winter here and in the southern hemisphere closer to summer. That is going to make a difference to the angle at which we’re seeing the planets along the horizon. On the 22nd, from the city, you might just about see Saturn. If we head out to the countryside, it’s going to be a little bit easier of course. Mercury becomes a very bright dot though quite low in the sky, and Saturn a little higher but much fainter. Of course, both dwarfed in terms of brightness by Venus, just a little bit higher in the sky.

That is from our perspective in the south of Ireland. I have already discussed the view at the view from the equator, but let’s quickly revisit it. We’ll go with a view from a little south of the equator, we’re going into the southern hemisphere anyway, so being a little bit off the equator doesn’t matter too much. There is likely to be some obscurations in front of the horizon no matter where you are, so it may not be very obvious that the planets will be easier to see at first. However, Mercury will be significantly higher above the horizon at the equator than it would be for us here in Ireland. Changing our view to the zero horizon, with no bushes or hills, leaves Saturn and Mercury both very clearly above the horizon. If we move forward a few days again they will be even easier to see. The planets definitely seem higher at the equator to my memory than they do from here in Cork. This would be from the countryside still. If you are observing from the city somewhere around the equator, light pollution will make things a little bit tougher to see. Thankfully, Saturn will still be quite visible, it is low to the horizon, but it’s not incredibly low. Whether next week on the 26th or this Saturday the 22nd, Saturn is at least quite clear from the city while Mercury is still in the sky if you are close enough to the equator. This is because the Sun is further under the horizon from the equator than it would be from here higher up the planet or lower down the planet. If we go far enough south, there’d be a similar effect. That is what’s allowing Saturn to shine through reasonably clearly from the city even this weekend, even though in our northerly latitude here in Ireland, it would be much more difficult to see.

We are going to keep pushing south, though we won’t go too far south to start with, we’ll just go a little under the equator. Going down towards 28 degrees south, brings us level with South Africa, the country rather than southern Africa the region of the landmass. 28 degrees south is definitely in southern Africa, just down below the bottom of Madagascar and level with central Australia, so kind of the less populated part of Australia. 28 or so degrees south is also close to level with some big cities in South America. I had to check which ones, I don’t know them off the top of my head, but Stellarium thankfully displays some once I click into South America around 31 degrees south. It lists what would be some of the bigger cities in Southern America, but of course, they’re listed alphabetically rather than by size. Having subsequently checked, big cities like Santiago, and Córdoba are pretty close to this latitude.

Taking a look from here, we can certainly see Venus, with Saturn and Mercury emerging at least under good conditions. You’ll just about see Saturn once Mercury is hitting the horizon, but Saturn is looking pretty tricky to see now. This is again because of the angle at which we’re seeing the ecliptic, even though we aren’t as far south at almost 32 degrees as we were north in Ireland. Due to the difference in the seasons, the angle of the ecliptic is also different. As I mentioned in a previous piece, if we were comparing like with like in terms of the seasons, we would be looking at northern hemisphere spring and then southern hemisphere spring six months later That would cause different differences to what we’re seeing, 20 degrees closer to the equator but also in autumn rather than spring.

Let’s try a countryside view because I’m sure that will make a little bit of a difference. This makes Mercury and Saturn definitely visible, though definitely quite low to the horizon still. To present a slightly more realistic view again I’ll get rid of the zero horizon. We’re looking west, looking off towards the western horizon because that’s where we will see the planets and the sunset. You would need to be on the western side of the Andes to most easily get a flat horizon looking west. You’d need to be in Chile or Peru, Chile specifically at this latitude, you’re not going to be able to do this from Brazil, or most of South America. You’re not going to be able to look out across the ocean looking west from Brazil. You can look out across plains ad other flatland. There are plains, there are savannas or steppe, depending on the terminology and how specific you want to be. However, there’s going to be some stuff in front of you, and there is very likely going to be mountains and uplands if you’re looking west. Over in this direction, we’re just not quite getting it, we’re not quite getting to see Saturn and Mercury because of the trees that are in the way, even just 31 degrees south.

I’m going to go a little bit back up, we’re going to go a little bit less far south, we’ll say 11 degrees south. Now the reason I’m doing this, up around the 8 to 11 degree south range, is because of some big population centers. There are a lot of very populated cities down in Maritime Southeast Asia. Jakarta in Indonesia is just a few degrees south of the Equator, with Singapore practically on the equator and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia just a few degrees north. So just in case, purely out of a desire to show the sky for the maximum possible number of people, due to the amount of people that live in this part of the world, I think it would be fair or at least a nice idea to show what it might look like. Still simulating the countryside of course goes against my hope to show this for the most possible amount of people, it is statistically more likely that if you are a person, you’re likely to live in a city. From the city it looks like you can definitely see Venus, but it looks like Saturn is out of view. The “Maritime” in Maritime Southeast Asia does a stand for, or has to do with the ocean. That means you do have a slightly better chance of looking out over the ocean in a westward direction, which gives us a reason to use the zero horizon. With that we can see Mercury, and if we go a little later, we’ll have Mercury and Saturn just about visible if you’re looking west over the ocean or a reasonably flat area from Maritime Southeast Asia, or anywhere that is a just few degrees south of the equator.

We will go very quickly much further south, way down to about 45 degrees south. This above the whole Tierra del Fuego kind of region, around the beginning of Patagonia. This is also going to catch the Southern Island of New Zealand, pretty far off of southern coast of South Africa, and just off the coast of Tasmania. If you live around the big cities in Southern Australia, then you’re view will be something in between what can be seen from 31 and 45, that might help you get an idea of what your sky would be like. Down at 45 degrees south looking at sunset on the 22nd, and it does look like even at the coast, from the city, we’re definitely not quite getting enough darkness. The Sun isn’t quite far enough under the horizon to show Mercury and Saturn from the city. Going out to the countryside one last time, and they’re still not visible. If we zoom in a little bit to cheat as it were, don’t point binoculars or a telescope too close to the sunset, but with the right protection we just about get Mercury.

Again, our limited view is because once you’re far enough south, we’re moving down into a different hemisphere and a different season. At the moment, that means we’re looking at the southern sky a little bit closer to their peak of summer rather than looking to the sky a little bit closer to our peak of winter. We haven’t come across the equinox just yet, that is the part of the year that we are in. Unfortunately, apologies to anyone who lives in the very far south, but it looks like for once you’ve got a slightly worse chance to see these things than we do here in Ireland. Not that our chance here in Ireland is particularly good, but then again, we will just about get to see it if you are in the right location.

I hope that you do get to see the parade of planets that is coming up this weekend. I hope that you enjoyed this piece showing you what the parade of planets would look like from a few other locations, and if you did enjoy this piece then please do like it. If you would like to see more from me, it would help if you subscribed to this website and my YouTube channel. Hopefully, I’ll see you back here next time.