By Professor Todd Brown / Contributor

The new year has started and the spring semester is packed with astronomical events. Hope springs eternal with the rolling of the yearly odometer and in case some of your New Year’s resolutions fall by the wayside in the months to come, here are some events that are set in stone, weather permitting, for viewing during the upcoming months.

Due to the tilt of the earth on its axis, we in the northern hemisphere are enjoying winter but we are actually at our closest approach to the sun for the current year. On Jan. 4, the earth was some 4 million miles closer to our nearest star as it will be in early July. That sounds like a lot to us who are used to the legroom size imposed on us by flying in coach but it really represents a change of less than 4 percent. Hence, our world’s climate is remarkably stable, greenhouse effect notwithstanding.

If you just cannot get enough of watching the endless speculation and intrigue that only an election year can provide, then take heart because February provides us with an extra day as 2008 is a Leap Year. If only one of those 29 February nights will be clear then may it be Feb. 20. On this night, the last total lunar eclipse until Dec. 21, 2010 occurs. For us, it is well timed as it starts after sunset and reaches mid-totality around 10:30 p.m. If you have ever wanted to see one, then do not miss the chance because if the one in 2010 is a wash due to weather then the 10 years after that will only offer two more visible from the Pitt-Greensburg area. It only stands to reason that our local luck will run dry as we have had three total eclipses occur in the last eleven months.

On Feb. 24, Saturn reaches opposition. This is “astro-talk” meaning that the Sun and Saturn will lie on opposite sides of the sky as viewed from earth. Hence, as the sun goes down, the 2nd largest planet in the solar system will be coming up. For months to come its bright creamy beacon will be an easy eye catcher in the nighttime sky. If the late February nights are too chilly for you, then do a Web search for “Saturn, opposition, 2008 election.” Words fail me in describing what I read.

March features Uranus in conjunction with the sun. This is “opposite” to “opposition” and in this configuration the planet in question, Uranus, lies directly on the other side of the sun as viewed from Earth. This means the usually unspectacular Uranus, large but distant, is impossible to see (making it unbelievably unspectacular). Of course, this special alignment must have, at least to some people with some time on their hands, a role in the 2008 election. If you want more fun (and all your homework is done) then there is the entire World Wide Web just loaded with more nuggets of info regarding this.

March also features the spring equinox or, as denoted by most, the “first day of spring.” I remember it as “The first day after my last chance to get my wife a birthday present.” This year it falls on March 20. Last year it fell, for the final time in my lifetime, on March 21. This ever slowly retreating date is a result that our attempt to fix our calendars with Leap Years is not entirely successful. The old adage “man plans and nature laughs” comes to mind.

April brings an end to the semester with Jupiter beginning to return to the evening skies. At the first of the month, it will be rising a few hours before dawn but, by month’s end, will be starting to come up before 2 a.m. During finals week, this time will be primetime viewing to many! For the next few months after this, Saturn will be setting in the west after sunset with Jupiter rising up from the east. The two planets will “bookend” the night sky quite well with their brilliant light.

Jupiter and Saturn take, respectively, 12 and 29 years to travel once around the sun, so they tend to only slowly move against the background stars. Almost on opposite ends of the sky currently, Jupiter is slowly catching up to the ringed planet. The last time they were in the same area of the sky, termed an alignment, was in 2000. They will not get back together until they provide a dazzling pairing in December 2020. Is it a coincidence that this will occur a month after a presidential election? Yep. Has someone written about the implications of this alignment regarding its impact on the future? Yep. The article I found was in regards to the dawning of the Age of Aquarius … directly contradicting what the 5th Dimension sang about in “Aquarius.” Astrologers have yet to tell me when the Cubs will win the World Series, so I will put more faith in the song that went platinum and won a Grammy. No matter what, may peace guide the planets and love steer the stars for the upcoming semester (For the younger crowd, that last line was ripped from the song).

What else is out there this week:

• The moon is waxing crescent in the west after sunset.
• Venus is the “morning star” visible in the southeast sky before dawn.
• Mars is the prominent red star-like object high overheard at sunset. Earth has passed the Red Planet by so it will diminish quickly in the next month.
• For the next month or so, it will anchor a triangle consisting of it, the Orion Nebula and the Pleiades star cluster. Take advantage of them while you can.

Professor Todd Brown teaches physics at Pitt-Greensburg. An avid astronomer, he contributes a weekly column to The Insider.