Your guide to the planets in 2006

Jupiter
The solar system's largest planet will appear as a brilliant "star" with a silver-white luster in the constellation of Libra the Scales. It will be primarily a late-night/early-morning object from January through April. 

By May and June it will be visible most of the night and will continue to be a convenient evening object through the end of October.  It is at opposition to the sun on May 4.  It will disappear into the sun's glow in early November and will again become visible in the morning sky during early December.

Saturn
Usually shines like a yellowish-white "star" of moderate brightness. It will be primarily a late-night/early morning object through much of January.  By late January into February, it will be visible most of the night and will continue to be a convenient evening object through the middle of July.  It is at opposition to the sun on Jan. 27 and will also have two close encounters with other naked-eye planets in 2006.

It will pass just over one-half degree from a much-dimmer Mars on the evening of June 17 and will lie a similar distance from the much more dazzling Venus on the morning of Aug. 27. Saturn is located within the relatively dim stars of Cancer the Crab.  On Feb. 2 and again on June 5, Saturn will be situated just below the beautiful cluster of stars popularly known as the "Beehive."  The famous ring system is visible in telescopes magnifying over 30-power.

From mid-March until the beginning of May, the rings will be tilted at a 20-degree angle toward Earth. You should take full advantage of this circumstance, because, we won't see the rings tipped 20 degrees or more to our line of sight again until the year 2014!

Uranus
The planet can be spied with the unaided eye under a clear, dark sky.  However, it is more easily seen in binoculars.  At magnitude +5.7, it is located in Aquarius and is at opposition to the sun on Sept. 5.

Neptune
This eighth-magnitude object is visible in binoculars and in 2006 resides in Capricornus the Sea Goat.  It arrives at opposition on Aug. 11.

Pluto
The smallest and most distant planet is, at magnitude 14 (about 900 times fainter than the faintest star visible to the unaided eye), the most difficult to observe.  You'll need a very dark sky, at least an 8-inch telescope and a finder chart to locate it.  In the constellation of Serpens the Serpent, it's at opposition on June 16.

The highlight of 2006: A planet trio
Jupiter, Mercury and Mars will engage in a most intriguing pre-Christmas gathering, very low in the east-southeast sky during the second week of December. The best time to look will be around 6:30 a.m. local time.  Unfortunately, the low altitude, plus this gathering's proximity to the sun, likely will render Mars invisible (or nearly so) to the unaided eye.  Binoculars are strongly recommended.  In contrast, Mercury and Jupiter should be more readily visible to the eye with only slight difficulty, as they will shine much brighter than Mars.

The trio will be most compact — fitting within just a 1-degree circle — on Dec. 10.  On this morning, the three planets will resemble a compact arrowhead pointing west, with Mars at the arrowhead.

There will also be separate conjunctions between Mercury and Mars (Dec. 9), Mercury and Jupiter (Dec. 10) and Mars and Jupiter (Dec. 11).  Also, for binocular viewers on the morning of Dec. 10, Mercury will appear to lie very close below and to the right of the second magnitude star Graffias in Scorpius the Scorpion.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester in New York.

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