Six planets in one line?

✪ Reality of "Planet parade"
✪ How and where we can observe the planets
✪ Bright Venus visible after Sunset
✪ Venus, Saturn and bright Jupiter can be easily observed
✪ Next two- three days excellent sky
✪ Clear blue- Why sky is blue?
✪ Lunar eclipse on 3 March, but it will be closing at Moonrise
✪ Pythagoras theorem and observation of a Tamil Mathematician

Hello. Since last few days posts of “planet parade” are circulating! We will discuss about current positions and visibility of the planets. But take a pause and think a bit! What will happen if six planets including Earth come in a line? Let’s think scientifically! If we visualize a bit, we will realize that in such a situation Mercury and Venus would not be observable from Earth as they will be in the direction of the Sun and will be lost in its glow. If this happens, then Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and other planets would be in an opposite direction of the Sun and they all would rise at the time of Sunset. But this is not the situation we have in the sky! That means all planets are not in one line for sure! But these posts have one meaning. Except for Mars, six planets are technically visible after the Sunset. They are not in one line, but they are visible in the evening.

   

Faint milky way band captured in city lights!

Fun and experiment no. 28

Experiment 28. Play of light and darkness

This is very simple. Find one such room that is closed and light does not enter it from anywhere. Open one window of that room in such a way that Sunlight should enter the room. Through the opening of the window, light should come only at a specific area. Observe what you see there. If in a dark room, there is a small lit space, then we observe dust particles there. Actually dust particles are everyhere. But they cannot be observed in light as they need contrasting background. They are also not visible in complete darkness. That's why they need both light as well as dark background to be visible. Dust particles reflect light, but we need a dark contrast to see that! And remember, we don't see anything, we actually see the LIGHT reflecting from it!

Activity 28. Have you seen stars in the day?

Similar to dust particles, we need light and darkness to observe rain drops in the night. In the light of lamps rain drops shine under the backdrop of darkness. Have you seen stars in the day? Except for one star, of course. One star is visible only in the day. But in the day, there are stars in the sky. But they are not visible as they need constrast. But a bright Moon is visible in day time also. And the third brightest object in our sky after the Sun and the Moon- Venus is also visible sometimes in the daylight. If we know its exact position in the sky, then we can see it as a tiny shining point in front of the blue sky!


प्रयोग 28. अंधार व प्रकाशाचा खेळ

हा प्रयोग अगदी सोपा आहे. एक अशी खोली शोधा जी बंद आहे आणि कुठूनही त्या खोलीत प्रकाश येत नाही. त्या खोलीची एक खिडकी थोडी उघडा. खिडकीतून सूर्यप्रकाश आत आला पाहिजे. झरोख्यातून फक्त एका मर्यादित जागेत प्रकाश पडेल अशी व्यवस्था करा. त्यावेळी तुम्हांला काय दिसतं ह्याचं निरीक्षण करा. अंधा-या खोलीत जर प्रकाशाची एक छोटी पट्टी असेल तर त्यात धुळीचे बारीक कण दिसतात. खरं तर सगळीकडे धुळीचे कण असतातच. पण ते प्रकाशात दिसत नाहीत कारण त्यांना विरुद्ध प्रकारची पार्श्वभूमी आवश्यक असते. आणि पूर्ण अंधारातही ते दिसू शकत नाहीत. म्हणून उजेड व अंधार दोन्ही‌ असताना ते दिसतात. धुळीच्या कणांवरून प्रकाश परिवर्तित होतो पण तो बघायला अंधाराची पार्श्वभूमी लागते! आणि हो, आपल्याला कोणतीच वस्तु दिसत नाही तर त्या वस्तुवरून परावर्तित होणारा प्रकाश फक्त दिसत असतो!

गंमत 28. दिवसा तारे बघितले आहेत का?

धुळीच्या कणांप्रमाणेच रात्री पाऊस पडताना बघण्यासाठी हेच आवश्यक असतं. दिव्याखालच्या प्रकाशात पाऊस दिसतो व त्यामागे असलेल्या अंधारात पावसाचे थेंब चमकतात. तुम्ही कोणी दिवसा तारे बघितले आहेत का? एक तारा सोडून. एक तारा फक्त दिवसाच दिसतो. दिवसाही आकाशात सगळे तारे असतात. पण ते दिसत नाहीत, कारण त्यांच्यासाठी अंधार आवश्यक असतो. पण ठळक असलेला चंद्र अनेकदा दिवसा दिसतो. आणि सूर्य व चंद्राखालोखाल आपल्या आकाशातला तिसरा तेजस्वी असलेला शुक्र मात्र कधी कधी दिवसा दिसतो. त्याची नेमकी जागा माहिती असेल तर तो दिवसाही निळ्या आकाशात एका बिंदूसारखा चमकताना दिसू शकतो!