See the shuttle, space station Friday

With the successful launch of the space shuttle Atlantis last week, we may now have another opportunity to see the shuttle and the International Space Station together in the sky at the same time.

The best opportunity for residents in the McCook area will be on Friday evening, Feb. 15, when the station and the shuttle will pass overhead together starting in the northwestern sky.

Start looking at about 6:46 p.m. CST when the bright dot of the space station and shuttle pair should become visible. They will travel high overhead to the east southeast being visible until about 6:52 p.m.

There will be other opportunities to see the station or the shuttle, times and directions can be found at www.heavans-above.com You will need to set your local latitude and longitude, but that is easily done with on-site help from Heavens Above. Times for local viewing of Iridium flares can also be found there.

Let this be considered as your official invitation to an eclipse party. The location is the southeast door at the Benkelman Elementary School on Wednesday evening, Feb. 20. In addition to eclipse, and other astronomical viewing, there will be party goodies available for those attending. The party will start at 6:30 p.m. MST and the eclipse starts at about 6:43 p.m. MST.

The eclipse will be a good time to view Saturn, there will be telescopes on hand for that purpose. The glare of the moon will be out of the way during the eclipse and Saturn will be an easy object to locate.

Bright, but fading, Mars will also be visible high overhead in the evening sky. In the past months our neighboring planet has moved out of Gemini into adjacent Orion hovering now just above Orion's head.

During the next few months we will be able to watch as Saturn and Mars slowly move into the same neighborhood with a great looking conjunction anticipated in July. The moon will even get into the act on July 6.

Sky Watch:

Full moon and total lunar eclipse on Wednesday, Feb. 20. The moon, Regulus, in Leo the Lion, and Saturn in the same part of the sky. Look for Venus and tiny Mercury on the morning of Feb. 26 and 27 at about 5:30 in the morning in the southeast close to the horizon.

Next time:

More astronomical blathering.