Wildlife, sport and activities, sometimes all at once

(Editor's Note: This story first appeared in the April 2003 issue of Mammoth Monthly magazine. Subscribe here.)

The big, splashy meteor showers of autumn and winter are finished, but there still are big doings in the Mammoth night sky in March and April, especially for the planet-heads among us.

Jupiter, in the southeast sky in the constellation Cancer, and Saturn, in the southwest sky in Taurus, make big statements that are evident in the black skies of the Mammoth High Sierra, where high altitude and a minimum of light pollution make viewing terrific.

And the sky show doesn’t stop with just the Big Two. Along about mid-April, Venus points the way to a rare viewing of Uranus, which is usually just flat-out impossible to catch, while Mercury, invisible next to the sun for most of the year, makes its rare evening splash for the year.

Ryan Diduk, the director of astronomy at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, was his usual enthusiastic self about this month’s sky show, and in an interview with Mammoth Monthly, he offered some useful insight.

"In mid-March, we still have the two largest planets in the solar system in perfect positions for viewing," he said. "Both of them are about 60 degrees above the horizon, on almost opposite sides of the sky. So you have the two giants straddling the Southern sky, and you can even look for the moons of Jupiter through a pair of binoculars."

And for those who might want to linger around Jupiter, Diduk offered a big tip, particularly for those who are traveling up from urban areas, or for locals who just never really noticed:

"The constellation Cancer, which Jupiter is in right now, is really difficult to see from a light-polluted sky," he said, "and it has a very nice star cluster in it called Praesepe (rhymes with 'recipe'), the Beehive, and it's one of the most beautiful binocular objects in the night sky.

"If you look for Jupiter, you'll see sort of a ring of very faint stars around it, in between the constellations of Leo the Lion and Gemini the Twins, and almost dead center in that ring of stars is the Beehive. It looks like a fuzzy patch of light to your eye, but point a pair of binoculars at it you'll see a little cluster of stars, and they're very beautiful through binoculars, and you really do need a dark sky to really appreciate them.

"The reason why it got that nickname, the Beehive Cluster, is because it looks like a swarm of bees," he said, "and since Jupiter is right nearby, it’s almost guiding you to it."

Others saw Praesepe and thought they were seeing through a thin spot in the floor of Heaven, and called the spot the Gate of Men, and the myth grew that it was through this "hole" that souls descended to Earth to be born.

The time to really pay attention to Venus, meanwhile, is near the very end of March, Diduk said, because Venus will allow you to see the faint planet Uranus, right next to it.

"On Friday, March 28, Venus will be 1/500th of a degree north of Uranus," he said. "The trouble is, Venus rises just before sunrise, so it’s becoming difficult to see by March and it will be almost impossible to see by April.

"But if you go out about two hours before the sun comes up, you'll see Venus rising in the East. You won't be able to miss it, because it’s the brightest thing out there. If you point your telescope at it, you'll see the planet Uranus. And you can actually see it through a pair of binoculars, too. Technically you can see it with your naked eye, but it’s one of those faint planets at the very limit of what the eye can see."

In April, meanwhile, Mercury takes a bow, and you won’t want to miss it, Diduk said.

"Mercury will start to set later and later after the sun, from the beginning of April right through to April 16, when it makes its greatest distance away from the sun," he said.

"And on that date, it will actually take two hours to set after the sun sets, so it should be easy to find in the Western sky. It will be the best viewing for that planet in the evening for the entire year, and not too many people get to see Mercury, because it’s always really close to the sun. So here’s your chance."

There's other stuff going on, too, from the rise of Hercules to the southern sky to the appearance of Leo the Lion, who announces spring even as our old winter friend, Orion, says his goodbyes.

But it's the planets that steal the show this month.