Today (Jan 7th 2016) there was a very nice planetary trio. The moon, Venus and Saturn formed an almost equilateral triangle in the early dawn sky. The distance between any pair of celestial bodies was about 2.5 degrees.
All orbs were in the constellation Ophiuchus (Oph). There are only 12 signs in the zodiac but in the modern division of the sky into constellations, it turns out that the sun also travels through Ophiuchus for some days in the year (The moon can be in even more constellations!)
Here are some photos
The trio. Venus is very bright and Saturn is the dimmer star below.
The moon Venus and Saturn
A wide field photo with part of Scorpio constellation in the right side of the photo. You will probably need to enlarge the photo to see it properly, and even see some of the red hue of Antares. Scorpio is a summer constellation and in the winter it rise just shortly before sunrise.
The moon Venus and Saturn
Using longer exposure we can see the Earthshine and many dim stars. You will need to enlarge this as well. Notice HIP81695 which is on the right limb of the moon and two small stars (HIP81632 and HIP81754) above Saturn.
The moon Venus and Saturn
The last photo is on brighter sky just before sunrise.
One of the most interesting events coming in 2015's summer will be the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. These two bright planets can already be seen clearly in the west just after sunset. Venus is brighter and lower than Jupiter, and they get closer every day!
These planets are the brightest objects in the sky except for the sun and the moon. A conjunction between them is not rare, but such a close encounter does not happen very often. Here are links to photos from the 2012 conjunction 2012 and from the 2008 conjunction.
New photos!
New photos from the event itself 30/06/2015
I started in daylight and here are the two. Jupiter is a small orange ball and Venus shape is visible. The camera was Canon HS SX50.
Daylight Venus and Jupiter 30/06/2015
The next two photos showing Venus and Jupiter through a telescope. It was amazing to see them both in the same field of view. Jupiter with its strips and moons and the thin crescent of Venus. In the photograph however, I had to choose the exposure. A long exposure to get Jupiter's moons and a short exposure to get the shape of the crescent. So I took two
Venus and Jupiter through a telescope 30/06/2015
Venus and Jupiter through a telescope 30/06/2015
OK, Saturn is always beautiful so why not take a photo of him as well?
Saturn
I invited friends to see the wonders of the sky. Many arrived to see the conjunction, Saturn, and the almost full moon. What a splendid evening!!!
These photos are from June 29 2015! Enjoy and scroll down to see the difference of just one day!
Venus and Jupiter 29/6/2015
You can clearly see Jupiter's moons in this photo!
Venus and Jupiter 29/6/2015
Venus and Jupiter 29/6/2015
Venus and Jupiter 29/6/2015
Venus and Jupiter 29/6/2015
Venus and Jupiter 29/6/2015
And notice the difference in just one day
Jupiter and Venus 28/6/2015
Jupiter and Venus 28/6/2015
Jupiter and Venus are the brightest planets, and way back in the past, on June 17th, 2 BC, their conjunction made them so close together, just 40 arc-seconds apart, that they seemed as a single, very bright star, which might be the origin of the "Star of Bethlehem" (although there are other astronomical theories for this star, such as a Supernova, a comet or other conjunctions). Look at the Illustration below. An observer looking through his telescope at a 100x magnification, would have seen this incredible sight. Venus is closer to Jupiter than Jupiter's moons and is just a little bit smaller than Jupiter. Jupiter's angular size is 32" and Venus's is only 25". This is indeed a sight not often seen! An even more spectacular conjunction will be on 22-Nov-2065, when Venus will actually go in front of Jupiter, obscuring a little part of it. Unfortunately, Jupiter and Venus will be only 7 degrees from the Sun so the chances to see it are near to zero. The next occultation will be in 2123, a bit too far in the future for most of us.
Venus and Jupiter conjunction 2 BC illustration
The current conjunction will not be as close as that of 2BC and the planets will be seen as two, but very close to each other. The first event to notice is on 13/6 when Venus will pass near the Beehive cluster (M44). Even a small binoculars will suffice to see it. The next interesting event will be on 20/6/2015 when the new moon will join the pair to create a triple conjunction.
The moon, Venus and Jupiter 20-Jun-2015
The moon, Venus and Jupiter 20-Jun-2015
And a short (17sec) time lapse of 18 minutes
Here is my own photo of Venus and M44 taken from a really light polluted area and yet, the cluster is visible
Venus and M44
Look at the illustration below. The little cloud below Venus is M44 and it also demonstrates how fast Venus moves.
Venus,Jupiter, the moon and M44 20/6/2015 Illustration
The nearest conjunction will be 10 days later on 30/6 with a distance of a third of a degree (22 arc-minutes). This is less than the diameter of the moon. If you have a telescope, you can use a magnification in which you can still see the entire moon and include both planets in the same field of view. If you don't have a telescope don't worry! Many people will photograph the pair and beautiful pictures are expected.
One day later (July 1st, 2015) the distance will be greater, but still less than half a degree. The distance will increase with every passing day as the pair will continue to move, each in its own celestial orbit.
Updated photos 18-Jun-2015!
New moon Venus and Jupiter 18/6/2015
New moon Venus and Jupiter 18/6/2015
Venus Jupiter and Leo constellation
Venus Jupiter and Leo constellation
Here are two photos taken three weeks apart which show how the distance is getting smaller.
Jupiter Venus and the moon 21/5/2015
Jupiter Venus and the moon 9/6/2015
The following song was a big hit in Israel and you will enjoy it even without understanding the words. Its name is "Milky way Ballad " and here is my freestyle translation for it.
You definitely can't miss bright Venus in the western sky just after sunset it is so amazingly bright that it is often misplaced for a coming airplane. It is easy to miss Mars which is a bit below Venus and much dimmer. We have just had another nice conjunction of Venus and Mars.
Why conjunctions are so fascinating? Maybe because it is our way to see that planets really moves, since all other stars are fixed, and just the planets wanders between them. Also such conjunctions are important in astrology but we know all for the better that this is rubbish. the truth is that such conjunction are a pleasure to observe and watch for several days seeing the daily relative movement of the planets.
I've started to track the pair about a month ago when Venus and Mercury were in conjunction and Mars was way above, Last week it rained a lot and I hardly got a chance to photograph the pair. Here is a photo from 19/2/15. Mars is a bit above Venus (You might need to enlarge the photo to see it properly)
Venus and Mars between the clouds -19/2/2015
I could not take any photos on Friday 20/2 since I am an orthodox Jew. However it was cloudy and rainy and even as I tried to observe the pair (and the new moon) all that happened was that after a lightning storm I was wet.
Saturday night 21/2/15 the storm was over, the skies were clear and I took the following photos. Venus is extremely bright, Mars is a bit red and their position do look different from the picture above. Also noticeable the nice earth shine on the moon which appears as a while
Venus and Mars 21/2/15
The part of the moon which is not directly lit by the sun still gets some light bounced back from Earth. This light returns to our eyes so we are able to see some details on the entire moon although it is just 3 days old!
A day passed and Venus is already above Mars. Mars is very dim, since there were lots of cirrus clouds in the sky, but you will be able to see it below and to the right of Venus. he moon is much further above
Venus and Mars 22/2/15
Venus and the moon 22/2/15
The conjunction is over. Mars is in its way down to disappear behind the sun. Venus is climbing up to be in a really close conjunction with far far away Neptune (Try to watch is with telescope on the fourth of Mars. Finding Neptune will never be as easy as aiming to Venus) and in July with Jupiter. Planets keep travel in our skies and give us great observations.
One of my hobbies is to spot the new moon as early as possible. Seeing the moon and setting the months in accordance to the new moon setting has an important role in the old Hebrew calendar. The current Hebrew calendar is based on calculations so the beginning of a new month can drift a day or two from the actual day that the new moon is seen from Israel.
This month, the new moon was at 21/1/2015. I was able to see the moon about 15 minutes after sunset. It depends on the moon age (26 hours in this case) and its location and of course the observer location. The moon was about 5 degrees north of the ecliptic which means that it could be seen in the sky more than a hour after sunset. this was an easy moon to spot but seeing it while there is still light is still a challenge. Venus however is so bright that it was easy to see it even before sunset. This is no wonder since you can see Venus during the day easily.
So here are just a few pictures before we are going to talk about timelapses.
The first moon is from 17:17 and it may take a while to find the thin crescent of the moon.
The new moon (you will see it when you enlarge the photo - just click over it)
After some minutes it is darker and Venus is clearly visible and also Mercury almost at the same line of the moon and to its left.
The new moon Venus and Mercury
The new moon Venus and Mercury
If you enlarge the next photo you will see some red light from a passing airplane over the moon.
The new moon Venus and Mercury
I am getting addicted to timelapses. They are fun to plan, easy to carry out and looks so charming. You don't need fancy equipment. You can do them with your smartphone as well. I am using a Canon700d for the timelapses. I used an intervalometer which enables me to see the number of photos I want and the time between each photo. If you use a smartphone there are bunch of software which will do that for you, but you will probably needs an external power source. also a tripod adapter is necessary for best results (You can buy them for few bucks in china, the intervalometer as well). I will write a longer article about timelapses in the future.
This time I thought that a photo every 2 seconds will be OK. I changed the photo resolution to a moderate size (there is no need for 24M files for an HD video), and let it work for 80 minutes. I had 2400 photos and used the freeware "virtual dub" to create the following timelapse. make sure to watch it on a full screen and in HD resolution (you might need to open it in YouTube site for it)
The video starts from the first time I saw the moon until Venus sets. As it gets darker more stars become visible.
So what's next? Next month 19-22 February, Venus and Mars will be very close in the sky. In the 20th, the new moon will also be there for US observers (I will miss that :-( ), so check up your gear, see if you need a larger memory card, get your intervalometer or suitable APP, do some tests and try to take your own great timelapse.
Venus and Mercury are in conjunction and it is easy to see the pair at southwest just after sunset. Bright Venus is visible immediately but it will take some 20 minutes to see Mercury. Their closet distance was during 9-11/01/2015 at about half a degree (just like the full moon), but they will be close together during the following few days.
Lets start with the better video from 2015-01-12 and thew whole story just after
As always better to watch on you-tube site with 1080hd resolution!
The first photos are from 11-Jan-2015. My point of view was quite good, as the pictures include the Israeli International airport (TLV), so you can see airplanes takeoff (In a curved S shape) and land.
As I tried to photograph, a bunch of very young curios kids got around me asking so many questions and bumping the tripod from time to time which of course damaged the video since it changed the composition and I have to throw away blurry photos. However they were so cute and asked so many questions - What is a star? How big it is? What is its name (4 times, I hope they got it finally). What is this star (Orion constellation at the east)? Where is the polar star? and so on... You simply can't be crossed at such nice kids!
Here are some photos and the video. The camera is Canon 700d with 18-250 Sigma lens.
Venus Mercury and an airplane landing (bottom right
Venus, Mercury and an airplane taking off
The video is a composition of about 200 photos taken during 50 minutes period Until Venus dropped behind the clouds (make sure to watch on HD 720 at least)! Don't miss the airplanes! They add a lot to the video.
I wanted to try again so I went today (12-Jan-2015) to a different place with a friend and tried a different approach, which basically is to photograph much more frames. I came out with around 1400 frames. Toward the end of the timelapse you will be able to see Mars as well at the top left - 3 planets and even four if you count Earth,
Few photos:
What a marvelous moon Venus conjunction! The early bird gets the best photos. The moon rose at 3:30 and Venus just 7 minutes after it. I got up at 4:40am to see this marvelous view from my roof. I am using a Canon HS50 for this photos. It is a simple camera and very affordable with a huge x50 zoom which looks like a telescope. No telescope is required.
Since the moon moves quite fast, Venus is already in the same height as the moon, and in few hours Venus will be above the moon.
It will be possible to see both during he daylight hours as well, check the article about how to see Venus in daylight. Also notice the gibbous shape of Venus which has phases just like the moon.
Moon and Venus conjunction
About one hour later, already dawn the moon is even nearer. See the difference in this photo
Moon and Venus conjunction
And another one shortly after with much more daylight
Moon and Venus conjunction
Also in the early hours sky are Mars in Virgo and Saturn in Libra. We are at the end of the Winter and the entire Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Al-tair is already up
The summer Triangle. Vega (up) Deneb (Left) and Altair (Right)
And a scene photo in wide area with all the morning clouds. The tiny dot just above the moon is not dust, it is Venus!
An interesting stellar conjunction is about to happen, starting from 20th of may until the 27th of May 2013. Jupiter, Venus and Mercury will be close to each other in the west, immediately after sunset.
Conjunction between two planets are very common and even between three planets are not rare. Conjunction are always a nice sight to watch and no equipment is needed. Look here for photos of a previous conjunction between Jupiter and Venus and try to think of a great photographs opportunists near your house.
This is what you will see on May 21st. Mercury is only 5 degrees above the horizon and Jupiter is 13. Jupiter is going down and down and Venus and Mercury up. Watch for several nights to see how the planets move.
Jupiter Venus and Mercury May 21st 2013
And here is a real photo from 22-May-2013. Jupiter is in the top, Venus and Mercury in the bottom.
Jupiter Venus and Mercury 22-May-2013
This is the planets position on May 26yh. Mercury is now the highest of the planets.
Jupiter Venus and Mercury May 21st 2013
And a real photo taken by my dear wife Rosalind Eidelheit. As you can see, Rosalind was very lucky to find some seconds with all three planets visible with these many clouds!
Jupiter Venus and Mercury May 26th 2013
And just one day after. Much less clouds!
Jupiter Venus and Mercury May 27th 2013
And another one from the 28th. I like the power lines which look like a musical score - a celestial symphony
Jupiter Venus and Mercury May 28th 2013
Jupiter will continue to go down until it will disappear from the evening sky and become a morning start, while Venus is about to dominate them for the coming months.
