Jupiter Meets Venus - How Close will they go?

General astronomy-related discussion (publicly viewable)
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WCGucfa
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Unread post by WCGucfa »

Thanks guys, I love Bob's challenges!!
George, the real challenges with this one was getting J and V both visible at the same time, clouds placed properly, all airplanes out of the shot and getting Venus stuck just before it set. :D

Bill
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Mark G
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Unread post by Mark G »

Eight fingers apart at my arms length (not counting the thumbs) for me tonight in the parking lot of AC Moore in Dartmouth, MA at about 5:30 pm.

So that's roughly 12* 27' 49" seperation at maybe a 78*.14' position angle from Venus. :wink: Darn Venus is blazingly bright :!: I'd estimate it at say -4.1 mag. :wink: :lol: So Jupiter had to be at least say about -2.1 mag. Now I swear I had no help from my Sky 6 program. :wink: NOT :!: :lol: :lol:
Clear skies,

Mark

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Bruce D
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Unread post by Bruce D »

HAHAHA I'm thinking 'geeze Mark's getting pretty precise with his estimates, darn he's good!' :lol: :lol: :lol:
Bruce D
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Rotorhead
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Unread post by Rotorhead »

Wow, and I was going to say that Jupiter had moved about a half a thumb joint closer to Venus tonight. I'm going to have to mark degrees and minutes on my hand with glow-in-the-dark paint....
Bob M
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Rotorhead
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Unread post by Rotorhead »

I absolutely pity the folks who will be at Hampden Meadows tonight. It is bitter.

However, the challenge is still on, so... Jupiter is down to one fist-width from Venus, plus a little gap. On my calibrated hand, that is about 10 degrees. We're getting there.

Tonight the GRS is supposed to be near the meridian right now (1700 local), so I decided to break out the Celestron and give it a try.

Wow, the wind is making the telescope shake almost as much as it is making me shake. But when things settle down, the seeing is excellent, but it still takes ten minutes of constant staring before I get a glimpse of the GRS just to the right of the meridian on the lower cloud band (refractor view, mirror image) at 1720 local. To tell the truth, even at 210x, the GRS is only a thickening of the cloud band. There was no distinct shape, just a bulge on the cloud band. My next power is 300x, but the wind would have made a 4mm Ortho a real challenge to keep on target, so I didn't even try.

It is cold, and I have a class to attend tonight, so I broke down and put everything back in the garage, by 1745.
Bob M
15" f5 Starsplitter Dob/80mm Finder
5" Explore Scientific triplet APO on a Vixen Sphinx GEM
________
"He numbers all the stars, and calls each one by name." Ps 147:4
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WCGucfa
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Unread post by WCGucfa »

Hey Guys,

Degree Countdown: From S. Rehoboth, Mass., Jupiter to Venus, 10 degrees 47' @ P.A. 76 degrees.

BONUS:
ISS rises from the WSW at 0614 EST.

Bill
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Galactus
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Late Report Nov 18

Unread post by Galactus »

This is a late report with a hand-held image from my back stoop looking SW with Jupiter above and Venus lower and right.

This image was taken around 6:00 local time on November 18 2008
Image
By gnhuftalen

It seemed to me that on Tuesday November 18 in bitter cold (to get worse Wednesday!), the planets were a closed fist apart, arm outstretched....
Last edited by Galactus on Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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WCGucfa
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Unread post by WCGucfa »

Wow George, this is hand held? Great job. This had to be before you started shivering!

Bill
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Galactus
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Unread post by Galactus »

WCGucfa wrote:Wow George, this is hand held? Great job. This had to be before you started shivering!

Bill
Thanks, Bill. It was the best of about ten terrible ones...The exposures were longer than I'd thought they'd be and I was using the house to steady my arm. I'll report on the metadata later when I can use the right program to access it...
Galactus, Devourer of Worlds
AKA, George H
8" Meade LX90
66mm AT Guide Scope, cameras, etc.
25X100 Zhumell Binos w/Pete's Pipes
Bolt of Light Technologies Laser
Friends to observe with=Priceless
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Galactus
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Unread post by Galactus »

WCGucfa wrote:Wow George, this is hand held? Great job. This had to be before you started shivering!

Bill
Thanks, Bill. It was the best of about ten terrible ones...The exposures were longer than I'd thought they'd be and I was using the house to steady my arm. I'll report on the metadata later when I can use the right program to access it...and I was shivering!
Galactus, Devourer of Worlds
AKA, George H
8" Meade LX90
66mm AT Guide Scope, cameras, etc.
25X100 Zhumell Binos w/Pete's Pipes
Bolt of Light Technologies Laser
Friends to observe with=Priceless
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