Object In Sky Staying In Exact Same Position Near Moon For Hours

reply to post by Druscilla


Yeah, glad you mentioned that, I usually do if I create a thread using stellarium.

reply to post by TheJourney
What's interesting to me is, I have been following Mr. Bright Thing (Jupiter? Well ok) for a loooong time. Every night when I take the dogs out at random times it is somewhere in the NorthEast just a-shinin through thick clouds and what-not. I mean, it is like the brightest thing in the sky, besides the moon! (Which is weird b/c that's not what I remember from school. You?)

Anyway, yeah... tonight I was really surprised to see "IT" tracking with the Moon across the sky. You know, I just have never ever seen a celestial body hang out with the Moon before, in all my born days! How often can we expect to see Jupiter and Moon tracking along together? How come it doesn't ring a bell to any of us? Is it rare? Will it stay rare or become a common occurrence?

Ok class, number your papers and begin your short answer quiz. Do your own work, and turn in your answers before you leave. ...No sir, you may not go to the bathroom. Sit down and do your work.

Originally posted by new_here
I just have never ever seen a celestial body hang out with the Moon before, in all my born days! How often can we expect to see Jupiter and Moon tracking along together?

The answer is.... every 28 days.

Last year, when Jupiter was also its brightest at opposition, ATS had at least one thread every month asking "whats that bright thing near the moon?".

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by new_here
I just have never ever seen a celestial body hang out with the Moon before, in all my born days! How often can we expect to see Jupiter and Moon tracking along together?

The answer is.... every 28 days.

Last year, when Jupiter was also its brightest at opposition, ATS had at least one thread every month asking "whats that bright thing near the moon?".

No kidding.
Gold Star for you!
Now I'm really bothered that I don't remember seeing it near the Moon.
Come to think of it, seems like Jupiter is rising more Northerly than last year, but not sure I can visualize how that could be possible.

Originally posted by new_here
Come to think of it, seems like Jupiter is rising more Northerly than last year, but not sure I can visualize how that could be possible.

Its certainly possible. I'll check the numbers after I type this post...
Its the same situation as the sun during the seasons, but at a much much slower rate due to the much much slower rate that Jupiter orbits the sun.
The tilt of the earth is offset from the "plane" of the ecliptic in which the planets and sun appear to be set, so from an observer on earth pointing to a direction in space, its not the same angle from the equator, as the angle from the ecliptic.
Really needs a diagram to visualise it I suppose.

Edit...
year mo dy hr mi sc Planet RA PlanetDec
2011 11 28 0 1 0 1.989870 10.68773
2012 11 28 0 1 0 4.693233 21.40394

Ok, so what that means is the "declination" (the degree to which Jupiter is north/south) was 10 degrees last year, but 21 degrees this year. So yes, its more north now.
Gold star for you.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by new_here
Come to think of it, seems like Jupiter is rising more Northerly than last year, but not sure I can visualize how that could be possible.

Its certainly possible. I'll check the numbers after I type this post...
Its the same situation as the sun during the seasons, but at a much much slower rate due to the much much slower rate that Jupiter orbits the earth.
The tilt of the earth is offset from the "plane" of the ecliptic in which the planets and sun appear to be set, so from an observer on earth pointing to a direction in space, its not the same angle from the equator, as the angle from the ecliptic.
Really needs a diagram to visualise it I suppose.

I kiiiinda get what you're saying. But did you mean to say up there "...slower rate that Jupiter orbits the SUN?" or were you describing how it appears to me on Earth in that sentence?

reply to post by TheJourney


spaceweather.com...

FULL MOON AND JUPITER: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look east. Jupiter and the full Moon are only a few degrees apart. This conjunction is so bright, it can be seen even from brightly-lit cities.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by new_here
Come to think of it, seems like Jupiter is rising more Northerly than last year, but not sure I can visualize how that could be possible.

Its certainly possible. I'll check the numbers after I type this post...
Its the same situation as the sun during the seasons, but at a much much slower rate due to the much much slower rate that Jupiter orbits the earth.
The tilt of the earth is offset from the "plane" of the ecliptic in which the planets and sun appear to be set, so from an observer on earth pointing to a direction in space, its not the same angle from the equator, as the angle from the ecliptic.
Really needs a diagram to visualise it I suppose.

Edit...
year mo dy hr mi sc Planet RA PlanetDec
2011 11 28 0 1 0 1.989870 10.68773
2012 11 28 0 1 0 4.693233 21.40394

Ok, so what that means is the "declination" (the degree to which Jupiter is north/south) was 10 degrees last year, but 21 degrees this year. So yes, its more north now.

Gold star for you.

Yay! Feel like I won the lottery, lol.
Thanks for looking that up.
In this case, my eyes do NOT deceive me!

Had noticed it myself here in belgium...
Figured it was jupiter

Originally posted by new_here
But did you mean to say up there "...slower rate that Jupiter orbits the SUN?" or were you describing how it appears to me on Earth in that sentence?

Now edited for correctness.
But yes, I was thinking at the time of the positions of things as seen from earth (because for this experiment thats all that matters).

The sun...
As seen from earth, it travels "around" the view of background stars once a year.
Remembering that the earths axial tilt is 23.4 degrees, the sun goes one cycle of north/south/north as seen by an earthly observer during that year.

Jupiter...
It travels around the sun once every 12 years.
Because the earth is so close to the sun (compared to Jupiter), then Jupiter also travels around the view of background stars (from an earthly observer's point of view) and takes 12 earth years to do so.
eg. 12 years to go from Scorpio, around and back to Scorpio.
Remembering that the earths axis is tilted, Jupiter goes one cycle of north/south/north as seen by an earthly observer during that 12 year period.

Originally posted by UnaChispa
Which state are you in?

Confused?


Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Yeah, it looks amazingly bright.

Its Jupiter

Download a app on your phone called Stellarium, it tells you what you can see in the sky

reply to post by alfa1


Yeah, I've seen that pic come up a lot on Facebook. For people looking on star apps., etc. change the time to 22:11 (not sure if it is GMT or Universal for the actual alignment) and the planet alignement will mirror the Giza pyramids.

A handy Timewave zero video on youtube has a good explanation

As others have mentioned, it's Jupiter. If you look at it through binoculars you'll see Jupiter's moons!

Jupiter is the second brightest planet, after Venus. But while Venus can only be seen for a few hours after sunset or before sunrise, Jupiter can be in the sky all night.

Jupiter's position relative to the Moon will change every night, primarily because the Moon is moving fairly fast. Jupiter is moving too, but very slowly. If you have Stellarium, you can "fast forward" or "rewind" dates and see that for yourself.

Totally seen this too! I'm in Vancouver, Wa. Me and my girlfriend were getting dinner at subway and on or way back to the truck I noticed a bite object moving to just above the moon. I said to my girlfriend that's a lil strange that aircraft's lights weren't blinking then it stopped and just hung out for a couple of hours. It wasn't no were near the moon, it was within our atmosphere clouds were moving behind it not in front it was really strange

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by new_here
But did you mean to say up there "...slower rate that Jupiter orbits the SUN?" or were you describing how it appears to me on Earth in that sentence?

Now edited for correctness.

But yes, I was thinking at the time of the positions of things as seen from earth (because for this experiment thats all that matters).

The sun...
As seen from earth, it travels "around" the view of background stars once a year.
Remembering that the earths axial tilt is 23.4 degrees, the sun goes one cycle of north/south/north as seen by an earthly observer during that year.

Jupiter...
It travels around the sun once every 12 years.
Because the earth is so close to the sun (compared to Jupiter), then Jupiter also travels around the view of background stars (from an earthly observer's point of view) and takes 12 earth years to do so.
eg. 12 years to go from Scorpio, around and back to Scorpio.
Remembering that the earths axis is tilted, Jupiter goes one cycle of north/south/north as seen by an earthly observer during that 12 year period.

Ok, I'm with you now. Thanks for clarification.
Now I know that Jupiter is closer than usual due to elliptical orbit, but I must wonder why, 12 years ago and 24 years ago, it's brightness just does not register in my memory!

Add to that... why did I (and many others if you google search) seem to think that Polaris (North Star) should be a bright thing in the sky. I have a hard time finding the darn thing!!!

Yea i saw it driving home last night about 6pm uk time.It was really cool and super bright. thanks for informing me it was Jupiter.