Venus And Jupiter Conjunction

[Weather-history]

Venus and Jupiter looked spectacular together this evening in the SW twilight sky.

They will get closer together this weekend and will be joined by the crescent moon.

[Roger J Smith]

Strange coincidence, Mr Data, I just thought about that having posted on another forum and wondering if Net-weather had an announcement up ... yes, they will make their closest approach at 01h on Dec 1, meaning that in the UK you will see them closest on Sunday evening, then they are joined by the crescent new Moon on Monday evening. In fact, Venus will be behind the Moon around 4 pm at about the sunset time in most places, and will pop out from behind the Moon some time after 4:30 pm (Monday), from the sunlit crescent side since the Moon is travelling right to left relative to the planets (although they are all setting at various rates). So, with this colder spell coming along and perhaps bringing some patches of clear sky, a few lucky people will get to see all this. Have a look Sunday in the southwest around or shortly after sunset and you'll easily find the two planets, the brighter is Venus. Then have a look Monday to find them with the Moon, if you only find the Moon and one planet above it, that one is Jupiter and Venus is hiding for the time being, watch for it to pop out (in binoculars you should be able to spot it right away, with the naked eye the glare of moonlight may reduce its visibility for a few minutes until it clears the edge).

North American readers, you would be almost equally treated Sunday and Monday evenings, on Sunday evening the Moon will be closer to the horizon than the two planets, while on Monday evening it will be above them and to their left (quite close to Venus still in the eastern time zones).

After this, Jupiter will appear to fall away into the Sun's glare quite rapidly in December, heading for its "conjunction" with the Sun, going behind the Sun from our perspective, on January 14th, while Venus is still rising a bit higher in the evening sky, and will remain prominent well into early February before it heads for its inferior conjunction in March. Meanwhile, Mars can't be seen for several months as it is just about behind the Sun now (conjunction is Dec 6th), while Saturn can easily be found after midnight, between Regulus and Spica although closer to Regulus. If you can spot Regulus, the bottom of the sickle-shaped Leo, then look well to the left for a coppery hued planet that is approximately the same brightness, and that's Saturn, followed later by another first magnitude blue-white star, Spica.

Another event coming up later will be a visible occultation of Antares by the waning Moon at 09h GMT on Christmas Day. Early risers on that day (in the UK and Ireland) might see the Moon low in the southeast approaching Antares, a bright red star, and might even see the occultation begin. Here in North America, folks in the eastern time zones could see Antares emerge just before sunrise around 10-11h GMT. As that's 3 a.m. here, I won't have a chance to see this one except for the aftermath of the two being quite close together at moonrise.

One other astronomy note, the full Moon rises on the 12th at just about its closest possible point to the earth, so it should look unusually large. It will rise well to the north of due east and should be just past the Pleiades although these will be hard to spot without binoculars in the lunar light glare.

[Andy Bown]

Venus and Jupiter have been easily visible fairly close together for about 10 days now. I'm hoping to catch a glimpse shortly because the sky is clear after fog etc most of the day, but am really looking forward to the close conjunction involving the crescent moon so thanks for the info guys .

[Typhoon John]

I've seen them on the clear days this past week on my drive home from work. They have looked superb and it's nice to finally know exactly which planets I was looking at!

[mettalfabrik]

can see them tonight again, also futher to RJS post regarding the venus \cresent moon occultation on the evening of 1st dec there is apparently a pass by the ISS just after the reappearance of venus from behind the cresent moon,photo opportunity or what!.cloud cover permitting

also this guy hopes to do a live webcast from his own telescope again weather permitting

http://www.lunarobservers.com/

regards

Bryan

courtesy of

http://www.btinternet.com/~gfcarey/

Edited November 28, 2008 by blackdown

[sammie]

Can you see them with just the naked eye?

[Crepuscular Ray]

Can you see them with just the naked eye?

Yes, just go look out towards the south-south-west a bit after sunset the next few days.

[sammie]

Yes, just go look out towards the south-south-west a bit after sunset the next few days.

Thanks

I think I spotted it last night while queing for the light switch on to open, but my friend kept insisting it was Venus and Mercury for some reason.

[Crepuscular Ray]

Thanks

I think I spotted it last night while queing for the light switch on to open, but my friend kept insisting it was Venus and Mercury for some reason.

Definitely not Mercury at the moment. If there are two bright objects in the southwestern horizon (in addition to the crescent Moon in a couple of days), it is Venus and Jupiter. There is no way that Mercury would ever be that far from the Sun, and I have a funny feeling that at the mo Mercury is far to close to the Sun to be visible by the naked eye because it's too close in to the Sun.

(Of the two, Venus is brighter/bigger)

CR

[debs]

Hi All,

Can clearly see them this side of the pond, they have been visible for a few days now, weather permitting of course.

No light pollution here so that makes things a little easier.

TTFn

Debs

[Essan]

This was the view from Evesham yesterday just after 5.00pm:-

[Backtrack]

I've saw them, i thought they were Ufo's at first :lol: really they are very bright

[Andy Bown]

It looks like being clear in most areas tomorrow evening .

[mettalfabrik]

details from the http://www.popastro.com/ newsletter

THE BEST LUNAR OCCULTATION OF A BRIGHT PLANET IN 2008

By Jon Harper, Occultations Section Director

It takes place on Monday, December 1, low in the SSW during the late

afternoon/early evening. Venus, at magnitude -4.1, will be

occulted at the Moon's dark limb as the Sun sets and reappear at

the bright limb about 90 minutes later. The disc of Venus is 16.6

seconds of arc in diameter and is 69% illuminated, exhibiting a

gibbous phase. It will take between 45 and 50 seconds for the disc to

disappear behind the Moon, and subsequently for it to reappear. The

Moon itself will be a waxing crescent, 3.9 days after New, and 13%

illuminated. Jupiter is in conjunction with the pair at the same time

and is about 2° above Venus in eastern Sagittarius.

Details including graphics are in the last issue of Popular Astronomy,

and also on my web page: http://snipurl.com/6is5s

Predicted timings (UT) are as follows:

Place Disapp. Reapp.

Penzance 15:37 17:11

Bristol 15:42 17:14

Swansea 15:40 17:12

London 15:46 17:16

Birmingham 15:43 17:13

Norwich 15:48 17:17

Manchester 15:42 17:12

Hull 15:45 17:14

Douglas 15:39 17:09

Newcastle 15:43 17:13

Belfast 15:37 17:07

Edinburgh 15:41 17:09

Inverness 15:39 17:07

Peter Grego, Lunar Director, is attempting to make a web cast of the

occultation from his home in Cornwall, or in the event of overcast

skies, a simulation of the event. Web: www.lunarobservers.com

[James M]

I can see them here tonight even with a layer of cloud, so they must be quite bright.

[frogesque]

Not the best of shots :lol: . Hand held and standing on the garden table looking over the fence :lol:

Tomorrow night should be even better as the Moon will be higher very close to Venus. I'll try and get set up with a tripod where I can get a decent view - hopefully the fog won't come down too early!

Edit I see there will be an occultation of Venus by the moon about 15.45 here and ending just after 17.00 and I think the ISS will be around somewhere too:

Just checked Heavens Above - for my location ISS 1 Dec -0.9 17:16:25 10 WSW 17:19:07 33 S 17:21:14 14 ESE

0.25sec @ f3.5. ISO 400

Edited November 30, 2008 by frogesque

[mettalfabrik]

fantastic

clouds parted just in time

[frogesque]

Was out for over an hour trying to get a shot but cloud came in just after the occultation ended so no decent pics I'm afraid. I was just about packing up when right on time ISS appeared so it was a nice bonus. :lol:

[Supercell Hunters]

Have a photo here aswell but will put it up soon. It way completely different to England though. It made a ...........(answer will come as pics shows)

[Supercell Hunters]

This is early November.

Last night made a smile!

[frogesque]

Woohooo! Just gotten round to checking the photos properly and guess what?!

Venus emerging.

and about 6 mins later

Just goes to show, you can never tell the outcome untill the large lady with the excess avoirsdupois has packed up and gone home

[Backtrack]

these are still visible, Very far apart but Jupiter stands out as the brightest in the sky. very bright indeed.

[Iceaxecrampon]

these are still visible, Very far apart but Jupiter stands out as the brightest in the sky. very bright indeed.

...... I thought Venus was brighter than Jupiter which is nearer the horizon?

Woohooo! Just gotten round to checking the photos properly and guess what?! :blink:

Venus emerging.

and about 6 mins later

Just goes to show, you can never tell the outcome untill the large lady with the excess avoirsdupois has packed up and gone home

.....Brilliant photos - I missed this due to overcast skies (NW England) fantastic shots nearly as good as "Celestial Skies" - Oh well only 40 more years to wait I was viewing Jupiter and Venus on the 5th of December when the ISS passed over....!!! quite eerie - took me a while to gather what it was....

Edited December 26, 2008 by Iceaxecrampon

[Backtrack]

Sorry, Must of gotten mixed up.

[James M]

There's a nice view of Venus and the crescent Moon tonight, if any of you have clear skies.

Edited December 31, 2008 by James M