Many of us plan our day with the expectation of being enthralled by sunset over Lake Michigan.  Soon afterward, however, another heavenly display unfolds in the summer twilight.  In August 2018, several planets are conveniently arrayed along the ecliptic in the evening sky, visible to the naked eye.  With sunset, the natural beauty viewed from the beach is just beginning. Here's where to look. 

 

Within 30 minutes of sunset, Venus is readily apparent toward the west.  You don't even need to wait until the blue has left the sky.  Besides the moon, Venus is the brightest regular object in the night sky.  A skilled observer can even find Venus in the daytime sky under the right conditions.

 

As twilight deepens, Jupiter is the next bright planet to emerge left of Venus.  Being the king of the planets--more massive than all the other planets combined--Jupiter reflects a lot of sunlight, which makes it so bright.  If you have a small telescope or good binoculars, look carefully at Jupiter and you can see the four Galilean moons encircling the planet. Look again the next night and you'll be amazed to see them each in a new relative position.  You're watching the dynamic solar system in motion as the moons revolve, changing their positions as seen from earth. 

 

Bright stars start popping out, including the three corner stars that denote the well-named Summer Triangle high in the sky.  To the south, reddish Antares marks the heart of Scorpius.  The rest of the scorpion will become evident as twilight deepens.  The name Antares means "rival of Mars", and the red planet is usually comparable to Antares in color, in brightness, and sometimes in location near the ecliptic.

 

 

Further east along the ecliptic--the line along which the sun, moon, and planets transit the sky--is the ringed planet Saturn.  It appears as a yellowish star, only it's not twinkling, which is a telltale way of distinguishing between the bodies--the stars will twinkle, while the planets do not.  

 

Mid-August, Mars is rising in the southeast by 8 PM.  If you're viewing from the beach, give it an hour to clear the dune embankment and treeline.  When it eventually appears, you'll know you're looking at Mars.  It's very bright and reddish.  Earth is overtaking Mars on the inside track around the sun, and just recently Mars was at its brightest during perihelic opposition.  At that time Mars was both closest to the sun in its orbit and opposite the sun from the earth (fully illuminated, the equivalent of a "full Mars"). While Mars was in the headlines in July, it still puts on a good show through August.  

 

Meanwhile, the moon moves west to east along the ecliptic, sliding left daily about 15 degrees until a month later when it has completed a full revolution around earth.  The illustration depicts a crescent moon on August 18, 2018.  The planet sizes are exaggerated to indicate their relative brightness; in reality they are tiny disks compared to the moon at half a degree of arc in the real sky.  

 

So when the sun goes down, don't give up on the sights to be seen overhead.  The planets are putting on a  grand show at convenient hours in the summer of 2018.  Head to the beach and look up.