Space Science with Python #8: Planets in the Sky
This tutorial will take a first look at the night sky. How are the planets and the Moon moving? And let’s answer one amateur-astrophotography-critical question: When can we take nice constellation pictures?
Did you notice some bright stars during the evening hours lately? Well, these are not stars, but the planets Venus and Jupiter (Saturn can be seen too, but it is a little bit fainter).
Using a planetarium software like Stellarium; or by patiently waiting for a few weeks, you will notice their apparent movement in the night sky. Eventually, Venus will vanish from the daily dusk period and emerges back in our view during the dusk hours: The evening “star” becomes the morning “star”.
Furthermore, we have also have the Moon as a frequently changing object in the sky. The question is: how can we compute their positions? And how can we compute or predict the apparent angular distances between these objects?
Close encounters e.g., between Jupiter, Venus and the Moon are a great constellation for landscape astrophotography. An image as shown belows does not only require proper equipment, a clear and dark sky, but also some kind of preparation regarding the positions of the planets (and the Moon):
Tutorial video #8 tackles these questions with a gentle introduction into sky coordinates. Don’t worry, it won’t be too difficult … and don’t worry, we will also dive deeper in the next session!
As always, the corresponding code can be found on GitHub:
Stay curious and until next time,
Thomas
P.S.: do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I will upload Space Science with Python video on a weekly basis!
