The night sky is the window to the rest of our universe, but it's also made for lovers. First of all, you get to be in the dark with the one you love, or at least the one you love that you hope will love you back. Then, you add a full moon in the sky to add to the budding romance. The full moon, however, only happens for a few days or so in a given month, and it isn't the only member of the heavens that can add to romance. Stars and even planets can also make a wonderful night for lovers as well. I've enjoyed writing this column since the late 1990's, and I'm not ashamed to say I'm an old romantic at heart, so around every Valentine's day and night, I love to point out other great signs of love in the sky.
Perennially, there are the constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus who, according to Greek and Roman mythology, were the king and queen of ancient Ethiopia. It's quite an involved tale as to how they got up into the night sky, and I'll tell you more about that when I feature them next month. In a nutshell, Cassiopeia's vanity was only eclipsed by the wrath of Hera, the queen of the gods. In a fit of temper, Hera tied Cassiopeia up in her throne and tossed her into the sky. When Cepheus found out what happened to his wife, he begged Zeus, the king of the gods, to heave him up into the heavens next to his beloved so they could be together for all time. They're still a nice couple, and this time of the year, they start out the evening in the high northwestern sky, although Cassiopeia is still bound to her throne. The W shaped formation of stars we see that is the constellation Cassiopeia is supposed to outline the throne of the banished queen with Her Majesty bound to it
Another regular is the bright star Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in Orion the Hunter. Even though it marks one of Orion's armpits, it has a real connection to Valentine's Day in several ways. First, Betelgeuse has a reddish hue and reaches its highest point in the sky on Valentine's at midnight, but it's best connection to the holiday created by lovers and helped along by Hallmark cards is that it literally behaves like a giant beating heart, and what a big heart it is!
In fact, when you see Betelgeuse in the early evening southeast sky, I can safely say that you're looking at the biggest, or at least one of the single biggest things you've ever seen. It pulses in size in roughly a six-year cycle, and at its maximum it's around a billion miles in diameter. By comparison, our own sun is just under a puny million miles in girth. Most astronomers feel that within the next 100,000 to one million years, Betelgeuse will suffer the ultimate heartbreak when it explodes in a colossal supernova. There will be no quick emotional rebound when that happens!
I think the very best signs of love and romance in the heavens this Valentine season are the planets Jupiter and Venus that are running next to each other, getting closer and closer from night to night in the southwestern sky. You can't miss them. They're the brightest star-like objects in the evening sky. Appropriately enough, Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love, and, not so appropriately enough, Jupiter is named in honor of the king of the gods. However, if you read up on Greek and Roman mythology, you'll quickly see that Jupiter certainly knew his way around the ladies, whether they liked him or not.
Since late last autumn, Jupiter and Venus have been in a hot, passionate pursuit of each other. This week, they're within 30 degrees of each other, or about three fist widths held at arm's length. By mid-March, they will be in their closest celestial embrace at just three degrees separation, the width of three of your fingers held together at arm's length. It would be nice if they reached the closest rendezvous this Valentine's week, but that's just not how the orbital speeds and positions of the planets worked out.
Actually, the two planets in their individual orbits around the sun are passing close to each from our point of view. In reality, the two planets are a long way from each other. Venus is right around the celestial corner at 93 million miles away while Jupiter is nearly 500 million miles.
You don't have to tell the one you love all of the astronomy behind the approach of the bright planets. If you want to make real romantic points for yourself, just tell the one you love that the approaching planets are a true sign this Valentine's Day, the two of you are meant to draw closer and closer to each other.
See how that works out for you!
(Lynch is an amateur astronomer and author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch.")