For stargazers, mid February to mid March has been, or will be, a sweet spectacle to behold. The brightest planets in the solar system will be lining up during this period, displaying special formations and alluring visuals. To the west, Jupiter and Venus can be seen even before the sky fades to black. The two brilliant planets surrounded by the evening blue is a sight to behold. Each day that passed in mid-February yielded better star-gazing opportunities, as the planets were slowly converging as time went on. At mid-February, the two planets were twenty degrees apart; at the end of the month, ten degrees apart – close enough so that they were able to be concealed by an outstretched palm.
February 25th and February 26th was a special day, in that Jupiter and Venus were able to be seen right next to the moon. The crescent moon moved in during those two days, aligning with the two planets to form a triangular shape between them, with the heavenly bodies as vertices. This arrangement was able to be seen all around the world, through fog, urban lights, and even some clouds; the moon, Jupiter, and Venus were the brightest objects in the night sky. After this, the moon moved on regularly and broke the tight triangular formation, but the cosmic show was yet to be over.
The celestial event Mars opposition, which occurs when Earth passes between the sun and Mars, happens about every two years and two months. During Mars opposition, the red planet and the Earth are closest. On March 3rd, Mars is to be located in opposition to the sun, where the sun’s rays illuminate the full face of Mars. This allows Mars to be seen with the naked eye in the eastern night sky. The reddish planet is distinguished by an orange-reddish tint, and can also be discerned because it does not twinkle like a star. As the heavenly bodies constantly move, Mars will be the closest on March 5th and is able to be seen shortly after sunset.
In March, Jupiter and Venus grow only closer. On March 12th and 13th, the two planets will be only three degrees apart, able to be concealed with with an outstretched fingertip or two. They become two beacons of light uncommonly close together. The sight is unusually mesmerizing; nature aligns the planets so that it is perfect for the naked eye.
Not to diverge from the topic, it is known that the eye works like a camera. Whatever that is in focus is in “high definition” and everything else is out of focus and blurry. The unfocused part of our eyesight is often referred to as peripheral sight. The region where our eyesight is in focus is about five degrees, and the rest is peripheral sight. Fortunately, during this time, Jupiter and Venus will be so close together – within the narrow region of focused vision- that they will both be able to be seen without having to shift one’s eyesight. It is nature’s treat, allowing humans to view the cosmos with ease.
Mercury is also able to be seen during this period shortly after sunset near the horizon. Saturn, the last visible planet able to be seen by the naked eye, will appear in the east shortly before midnight and will get increasingly higher, shining the highest before dawn.[caption id=”attachment_3144″ align=”alignleft” width=”300″ caption=”Taken on Mar.3rd, the planets are close enough to be blocked by an outstretched fist.
oooer good job!
i liked how you put the most important bits at the beginning and the not-so-important bits at the end, as well as some vivid language.
some things you should consider are:
-QUOTES. no matter how good the writing is, without quotes an article… is not an article LOL. they’re what make the writing interesting– they tell the story, about not just that something is interesting but WHY it’s interesting.
even one or two would’ve added a lot to this article.
-PASSIVE VOICE. i’m guilty of this a lot of the time ahaha; structure your sentences so that the subjects are doing actions, not being acted upon (so for example, instead of “Mercury is also able to be seen,” you could write something like “Mercury appears during ____”)
-and this is just a little thing but you could cut down on the word count? not that it’s a totally bad thing but in journalism it’s better to cut to the point and have things be clear than to add too much detail/be wordy (especially when the information paragraphs aren’t separated by text).
anyway overall nice writing! g’luck on future articles as well 🙂