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We respect your privacy. We will not publish or share your email address in any way. Are you sure you want to post this? We're asking people to rethink comments that seem similar to others that have been reported or downvoted. Continue with Facebook Continue with Google or. Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Forgot your password? Sign Up Have an account? If you have our mobile version enabled then we'll be showing you a simpler view of the solar system showing you the current planetary positions with the option of moving up to 30 days forwards or backwards.
Both apps show a solar system map - a "plan view" of the planets laid out in the plane of the ecliptic the flat plane in which all the main planets move about the Sun. Dwarf planet positions are also shown - but it should be realised that these objects often rise far above and below the plane of the ecliptic. This is because their orbital planes are tilted with respect to the ecliptic - by more than 40 degrees in some cases.
So be aware that just because the app may occasionally show a planet and a dwarf planet to be very close to each other in the plan view, they may, in fact, be separated by a large perpendicular distance. As you may know, the Earth's axis is tilted over by The app is arranged so that the view is fixed to the stars and that Polaris is always off the top of the screen and not shown.
This means that the Earth's north pole is currently pointing towards the top of the screen, and the south pole towards the bottom. During the summer months of the northern hemisphere the north pole is pointing more towards the Sun and so the Earth is shown below the Sun. During the summer months of the southern hemisphere, the south pole points towards the Sun and so the Earth is shown above the Sun.
Unlike other online orreries in which you can look at the solar system from all angles, this site always shows the same view to try and help you keep your orientation. This allows you to tailor the view to the hemisphere you are in so that you can more easily relate the planetary positions as shown in this app with what you are seeing in the night sky.
In both views the North Star is kept towards the top of the screen. Because the display is locked with north tilting upwards, it acts rather like a clock face in which one revolution of the Earth about the Sun is one year, and each of the constellations approximately map to months of the year with January being when the Sun is mostly in Capricorn and December when the Sun is mostly in Sagittarius, etc.
The Zodiac display is centred on the Earth and oriented with the tilt of the earth. This display shows in which sign of the zodiac the Sun lies at any time. The sign of the Sun at a persons birth is called that person's Star Sign. The Zodiac is locked to the tilt of the earth in this way: Because the earth is tilted the Sun lies in the northern hemisphere for six months and then in the southern hemisphere for six months.
When the Sun crosses from the northern to the southern hemisphere this is called the Vernal Equinox and this event defines the direction between Aries and Pisces and hence the orientation of the whole Zodiac for the following year.
Currently, the winter and summer solstices occur as the Sun crosses the vertical zodiac line and the spring and autumn equinoxes when the Sun crosses the horizontal zodiac line.
So, to use our anti-clockwise clock analogy e. The longest and shortest days occur at the Solstices. At the Equinoxes, the day is almost exactly the same 12 hours long all over the world.
The zodiac in the desktop version always shows which sign of the zodiac the Sun is in. However it may not be correctly showing which sign each planet is in.
The magnificent ring system , the banded globe, and its faintly shimmering moons make Saturn an object of exquisite beauty. The most dramatic aspect is of course the rings; there is nothing else like them in the sky. Any telescope magnifying more than power will show them.
A 4-inch telescope at x or an 8-inch telescope at x will provide a memorable view. The rings consist of billions of particles ranging in size from sand grains to flying mountains, which are made of, or covered by, water ice.
This accounts for their very high reflectivity. The reason that "rings" is plural and not singular is that gaps of brightness differences define distinct sets of rings. And positioned a similar distance to the moon's upper left and shining with a brilliant silvery glow will be the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter.
In terms of brightness, "Big Jupe" is second among the planets to Venus. Currently, Venus rivals Jupiter in our evening skies, but only until around p. Thereafter, Jupiter, the "king" of the planets, will reign in the sky until just past 2 in the morning. In a telescope, Jupiter is also a prime attraction.
It's best observed during the 8 to 10 p. And its four bright Galilean moons are always performing. They seem like small stars, though two of them are really larger than Earth's own moon. It's indeed possible to watch the Galilean moons change their positions relative to each other from hour to hour and from night to night.
In fact, if you look at Jupiter with a small telescope or even steadily held binoculars on Thursday evening, you'll see three of those four big satellites. On one side of Jupiter will be Callisto and Io, while on the other side you'll be able to see Ganymede. Meanwhile, Europa will be passing directly in front of Jupiter.
And if you point out Saturn and Jupiter relative to the moon on Thursday to friends or family members, be sure to tell them that what they are seeing is merely an illusion of perspective.
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