Astro Bob

Saturn (left) and Jupiter have been a familiar sight in the southern sky this summer and fall. Keep an eye on them. In the weeks ahead Jupiter will close the gap. Bob King Jupiter and Saturn have been our nighttime companions all summer and now into the fall. Just lift your head and face south any clear evening and you'll find them staring back at you. Both planets shine from the teapot-shaped constellation Sagittarius. First visible at nightfall they wheel slowly westward with Earth's rotation and slink below the horizon shortly after midnight. Jupiter and Saturn are paired up in Sagittarius. Watch for the waxing moon to swing below Jupiter on Sept. 24 and Saturn on the 25th. Stellarium In late September the two planets are separated by 7.5° or about the same distance between bright Betelgeuse and its neighbor Bellatrix in Orion. But that's changing.  Each planet orbits the sun at its own speed, moving eastward — to the left in the northern hemisphere — over the months and