Today (26-Feb-2012) The Moon was between Venus and Jupiter. The distance between them is still large enough so we will not call this setup a conjunction but rather an alignment. Nonetheless, it was very nice to see all three celestial bodies close together (They will look much closer next month!)
The first photo still in twilight, Venus at the bottom and Jupiter at the top.
The moon, Venus and Jupiter
The second is just a closeup of the crescent moon
The Moon 4.5 Days old
And the third photo will show all three bodies again with some earthly background
Tonight (23 Feb 2012) It was the first opportunity to see the new moon of Adar. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar and the beginning of each month is decided by the moon. For the last 1600 years the calendar is calculated but before that, it was necessary to see the new moon, and to testify about it. Today, it is just nice to see the new moon each month. This month it was quiet easy, but sometime it is a real challenge.
As a bonus Mercury was near the new moon, but very hard to see. You can see it easily in the photo tough. Mercury is below and to the left of the moon. Also look how noticeable is the Earth-shine, making us see the entire moon. Rays from the sun are reflected from Earth, to the entire near side of the moon and reflected back to US. For this reason we see the entire moon, and even some details.
Take a look at the video started from 17:38, just minutes after sunset and still in daylight. As it gets later, the moon sets, more lights are on in the far buildings. Finally the moon vanishes before it sets below the horizon. The video is from 17:38 until 19:00. I am sorry for the video degradation. If you know better ways to make a video out of many individual photos please share as comments, and I will remake it.
The Carnival of Space
is a community of interest blog carnival bringing together the best and
brightest Astronomy & Space Blogs at a single point in space and
time (commonly referred to as a web address) each week.
This week Carnival of space is hosted by Christopher Crockett and is full of astronomical news and articles.
The ISS is the brightest unnatural objects in the skies, brighter even than Jupiter, and in rare occasions even from Venus. You can compere its brightness to the well known constellation of Orion. The photo is from 2008 and since than the ISS got bigger so it is even brighter!
