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Jul 24th, 2016

Hello to all,

To-night from DARWIN (NT, Australia) at Mindil Beach - Latitude S12°26'7 Longitude E130°49'6 - about 50 minutes after Sunset (i.e. by 09:50 UT on Jul. 24th, 2016) I could see and admire a remarkable alignment of Planets and Stars, almost all in the same azimuth - at least from (1) to (5) - therefore looking "almost vertical" to me.

From bottom to top:

(1) Just over the Horizon: VENUS, at around 4° elevation (or height), and:

(2) On top of (1): MERCURY at around 10° elevation (subject to confirmation), and:

(3) On top of (2) and about halfway between (1) and (4) and at about 20° elevation: UNKNOWN 2nd Magnitude STAR, and:

(4) On top of (3): JUPITER, and:

(5) On top of (4): SPICA, and:

(5) On top of (4) and almost over my head: MARS, and:

(6) On top of (5) - while altitudes actually started to decline, therefore I should have said that it was at the bottom of (5) - SATURN, with:

in their immediate vicinity ANTARES and the notorious DSCHUBBA (DELTA SCORPII) almost halfway between MARS and SATURN, and:

(7) Cherry on the cake, by 10:01 UT on Jul 24th, 2016 a quite bright Artificial Satellite (INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ?) lit up in the South West shortly before passing quite close from SPICA (within 3°) and continued its track towards the North East, and:

(8) Lady CRUZ DEL SUR as gorgeous as always !!! And:

(9) I then came back home just in time to admire a magnificent (Half) Moon rising over the Eastern part of the Darwin Bay, and:

(10) To-morrow moning, I will admire the magnificent unique and only 1st Magnitude star line-up : CANOPUS - ACHERNAR - FOMALHAUT  from East to West about one hour before Sun rise and it will be lined up almost perfectly alongside the DARWIN Cavenagh Street (about 130°-310°) ..., and:

Thanks be to God for so magnificent sights !

QUIZZ :

A - Confirm - or infirm/disprove - that (2) is actually MERCURY

B - Identify Star (3)

C - Identify Artifical Satellite (7) , with a special bonus for the computation of the Minimum Angular Distance as well as the time of such Minimum Angular Distance between such Artificial Satellite and SPICA as seen from the Observer's Position ( Latitude S12°26'7 Longitude E130°49'6 on Jul. 24th at a time close from 10:01 UT )

D - Compute and publish the apparent Heights (i.e. affected by [standard] refraction) and Azimuts of all Bodies from (1) to (6) for the Observer's Position at 09:50 UT ( Latitude S12°26'7 Longitude E130°49'6 on Jul. 24th at 09:50 T )

(E - ) Enjoy !

Kermit

Antoine M. "Kermit" Couëtte

PS : No need to use TT-UT to night ... Am I not showing some progress ? :-)