Astronomical Observation

This is more of a curiosity, really. I happened to be playing with a Skydome, which is a remarkable piece of online programming (I imagine it's flash) that enables you to view the position of any planet (and the brightest stars) at any time of any day you wish.

I was thinking of the time when I became first aware of the planets. It was summer, and Jupiter and Saturn were near a conjuction in the south, and Venus was in the west, just after sundown. But I didn't remember what year that was—late 50s or possibly even 1960. So I dialed in the time (dusk) and date (August) and turned on the wayback machine, clicking through the years until I saw Jupiter nearing the sun and Venus appear in the west. Turned out to be my birthday in 1960.

dusk, September 26, 1960

Not that I'm astrologically minded, but I thought it would be fun to see what exactly was happening planet-wise when I was born. So I dialed up that date, and Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Neptune were in a big blob right near the sun. Why is this fascinating? Don't know. Just is.

Later in the day, the day I was born.