Look up on december 1 2008

Hello ATS,

According to the NASA website NASA this last week of november is a very special one if you love to look up to the planets of our solarsystem.
This is a special ocasion simply because the moon joins the two plantes so we have the three brightest object in our nightsky together.

This story ends with the best sky show of the year--a spectacular three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon

On December 1 at 7:36 p.m. ET, Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction, the astronomical term for "really close together as far as observers on Earth are concerned."

If the skies are clear, stargazers will be able to see the planets shining just two degrees apart, with a partially lit moon sitting three degrees away from Venus.

The same two planets met up once before this year on the morning of February 1. They won't be in conjunction again until May 2011.

Of course, being in conjunction has nothing to with the actual distance between the planets.

Although they will both be in Earth's line of sight, Venus is about 25 million miles away in an orbit closer than Earth to the sun.







By contrast, Jupiter is 390 million miles away in the fifth most distant orbit from the sun.



Enjoy it,

BR
PPL

i always enjoy a spot of sky gazing... It really puts us in perspective.


will this work in the southern hemisphere?
im at 45' south....??

cheers

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check it out. The two planets are extremly bright right now.

I've noticed them coming together over the last couple of nights, they are quite bright really and rather low in the sky from where I live, well at around 18:00 anywho.

I've been driving home through London these last few nights and had these 2 celestial bodies for company as I drive my wife and I home, at first they looked like stars .
Until recentlyI found out that they were planets and found them wonderful to look at, I shall definately be looking up most nights now and its typical that I borrowed my bro's telescope a few weeks ago and now I've given it back to him these 2 planets appear..........

Last time I used it I saw Jupiter ( I think) and I could just make out 3 moons in orbit, like very very faint stars , not being even a junior/beginner astronomer I wouldn't know what planet I saw couldve been another one.... It was still spectacular though..

I noticed the two stars LAST NIGHT and made comment to my family about it.

Very cool - but here in the Florida Keys - you can already see it very brightly.

It was only the 27th of November that the stars are highly visible here in the Florida Keys.

Hello All,

According to NASA this should be viewable from all over de globe.

BR
PPL

Cheers mate!
Fingers crossed for clear skies!

Thanks for this thread OP, I've been watching this for about two weeks and been meaning to find out which planets they were. I thought maybe Saturn and Venus. It should be spectacular when the new moon appears.

I saw the two planets last evening. They looked awesome. Venus was so bright. Unfortunately the moon wasn't near them when I looked. The planets were quite far west in the sky over Toronto early in the evening. They had the sky all to themselves. The effect at dusk was stunning. Visual poetry.

Agreed, it was beautiful last night, we've only had a couple of clear nights and last night, yes...it was stunning. I will be looking forward to the week ahead.

Rush

Here's a picture I took of Jupiter (above) and Venus (below) last night Just hoping skies are as clear on Monday!

reply to post by Essan


Beautiful photo, Essan.

I've been noticing Venus and Jupiter together for a little while now (at least a week) in my SSW sky here in Pennsylvania, USA an hour or so after sunset.

Very striking and hard to miss if one was to look in that direction.

[edit on 11/29/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]

Here's my shot.
And the skeptics claim people mistake real UFO's for static points in the sky that cracks me up!!!

[edit on 1-12-2008 by atsbeliever]

[edit on 1-12-2008 by atsbeliever]


[edit: fixed image tag]

[edit on 1-12-2008 by 12m8keall2c]

Originally posted by atsbeliever
And the skeptics claim people mistake real UFO's for static points in the sky that cracks me up!!!

Beautiful shot, got some nice earthshine. And yes, I've seen people mistake Venus for "something unusual" even here on ATS. Claiming that not all instances of lights in the sky can be attributed to Venus or Jupiter is one thing, claiming that no instance exists where Venus is mistaken for a paranormal mysterious object is quite another.

[edit on 1-12-2008 by ngchunter]

Hi,

This is one i took last week, unfortunately the moon wasn't in view.

Regards
S.

Thankyou, It will be worth going out and looking at tonight, although I have to admit I have been watching them for a while now, just did not know it was Jupiter next to the planet of love... Been snowing and cloudy but supposed to clear tonight, fingers crossed...

Heavy clouds and snow here in my corner of the world today...

Dang weather gods!

Hello ATS,

Here some more background info about the plantery conjuction.

www.space.com...
A slender crescent moon, just 15-percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.

Very bright objects

Venus has adorned the southwestern twilight sky since late August. No other star or planet can come close to matching Venus in brilliance. During World War II, aircraft spotters sometimes mistook Venus for an enemy airplane. There were even cases in which Venus drew antiaircraft fire.

This winter, Venus is the unrivaled evening star that will soar from excellent to magnificent prominence in the southwest at nightfall. The interval by which it follows the Sun will increase from nearly three hours on Dec. 1 to almost four hours by Jan. 1. It's probably the first "star" you'll see coming out after sunset. In fact, if the air is very clear and the sky a good, deep blue, try looking for Venus shortly before sunset.

Jupiter starts December just above Venus and is moving in the opposite direction, dropping progressively lower each evening. By month's end Jupiter meets up with another planet – Mercury – but by then Jupiter is also descending deep into the glow of sunset. In January, Jupiter will be too close to the Sun to see; it's in conjunction with the Sun on Jan. 24.

*snip*

Keeping it all in perspective

Keep in mind that this head-turning display of three celestial objects crowded together will be merely an illusion of perspective: the moon will be only about 251,400 miles (403,900 km) from Earth, while Venus is nearly 371 times farther away, at 93.2 million miles (149.67 million km). Meanwhile, Jupiter is almost 2,150 times farther away than our natural satellite at 540.3 million miles (869.0 million km).

BR PPL


Mod Note: External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.

Mod Note: No Quote/Plagiarism – Please Review This Link.

Mod Note: Excessive Quoting – Please Review This Link



[edit on 2/12/08 by Jbird]

I missed the occultation but managed to get a nice view of the close threesome before cloud obscured. And a superb sight it was too (Northern UK).

WG3

[edit on 1-12-2008 by waveguide3]