Astronomers, what planet was out this morning?

[Deja Q]

This morning, 7:30 CST, I looked at the moon.

For a while, there was a bright pinpoint of light near it, that was surely no manmade craft. Nor did it move, so it was no UFO.

Is Mars aligned just perfectly right?

Or was it Bush*? :D

[Bozola]

1. That would be Jupiter (mag -2.1)

The biggest gas giant in the solar system, out weighing the local gas giant, Rush Limbaugh, by 1.0 * 10^25 times.

[Deja Q]

2. Thanks!

That was a sweet sight. To the naked eye it's just a bright white pinprick of light, but it's cool all the same.

And I could have sworn that Rush Limbaugh was a neutron star; a star that collapsed in on itself during its nova. Neutron stars are stubby, dense, and very heavy.

[liberalnurse]

3. That is really funny....

:yourock:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Must. Not. Reply. With. Seventh. Planet. Must. Not.

GAAAAAAA I CAN'T HELP IT!

URANUS

[pmbryant]

5. Here's a nifty online sky chart

Sky and Telescope magazine has a nifty online sky chart that anyone can use to see what's in the sky at a particular time and place:

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/skychart/

Very handy for finding out what planet you're looking at. :-)

--Peter