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“Starry Night is an excellent
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--ZDNet, 5 star rating
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StarGazer
Each week most PBS stations air Star
Gazer with Jack Horkheimer, the world's first and only weekly TV series
on naked-eye astronomy. The images on this page illustrate the show for
the week of Monday,
July 3, 2000.
Earth Farthest From The Sun This Week, and The Two Largest Planets Light Up The Morning Skies
Earth is closest to the sun in early January (the point of closest approach is indicated by a bar through the orbital path) and farthest away 6 months later, on July 3.
About two hours before sunrise in early July, an early riser can look to the northeast and see Saturn, Jupiter, and the six bright stars in the Pleiades cluster form a small triangle.
An hour before sunrise, the bright star Aldebaran has risen above the horizon and the sky has grown lighter. Jupiter and Saturn can still be seen, but only the brightest star in the Pleiades (Alcyone) remains visible.
