'Great Conjunction' of Jupiter and Saturn

[Lawrencewendall]

Supposed to be cloudy here and the planets are so low on the horizon, I doubt I will be able to see with the trees.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Same here in PA.

 

[target2019]

We saw it Friday night without telescope or binoculars. Came inside and watched Chuck's Astrophotograph (Detroit) which can be played back.

If clear skies Sunday in UK, I'll watch Uni of Exeter:

Live stream Monday from Lowell:
https://lowell.edu/the-great-conjunction/

I was impressed by what Chuck has achieved as an amateur. He has some shots on NASA APOD.

 

[target2019]

I stumbled upon this view at https://stellarium-web.org/

In addition to the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, their is conjunction of Sun and Mercury. In the shot below you can see this, with the Moon and Venus, all on a diagonal.

This explains the year 2020. I just know it!

 

[DrRoy]

I could see it two nights ago.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

My 10" dob came in last week and haven't had a clear night since.

I just knew there was somebody out there with a recent glass purchase! The clouds rolled in here during my afternoon walk and we’re now socked in. And of all things tomorrow night is the astronomy club meeting, although if it’s clear I suspect there will be an empty Zoom screen. Not looking promising for clearing but who knows?

 

[MissMolly]

I saw it!

 

[6miths]

Sadly cloudy again here tonight and likely to be again tomorrow night for the big event.

 

[RunningBum]

Looks to be clearing later in the evening for me. Hoping it's still visible then. I'm looking for a place that tells when it drops below the horizon in Virginia. Anyone know? Sites I'm seeing say the best time to look is "after sunset" but don't say how late. We will be out away from the lights.

 

[Peter]

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/

Quite a short window of opportunity between sunset and planets also setting.

 

[Ronstar]

We were grocery shopping around sunset and I could see Jupiter/ Saturn with the naked eye.

Got binoculars and camera and went to our desolate country road spot. Saw it through the binoculars, but thin clouds prohibited a good photo. Plus I forgot to bring my longest lens. It was getting late at this point - 2 hrs after sunset. We'll get another chance.

I use this to get info:

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/usa/time

 

[RunningBum]

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/

Quite a short window of opportunity between sunset and planets also setting.

Thanks for that. 7:17. About 70% cloud cover. And we're actually heading to Richmond for a Christmas light display so we'll have to hope for a break in clouds before 5:30. Tomorrow night looks a lot clearer, so we'll probably just have to see them not quite so close.

 

[timo2]

with my eyes they looked like one star tonight. Binoculars showed the current separation.

 

[corn18]

We have a small window of about 20 minutes here in SW Ohio to get a peak and it was cloudy again, so notta. But it has cleared up nicely now. Seeing about a 7 which is fantastic. The moon is spectacular and I can see some good details on Mars right now. I'm running about 260x on Mars which is usually way too much power but it looks great tonight. I use binoviewers, have a tracking telescope and a very nice observing chair so I can sit there for a long time to pick out details. If you are curious what you can see in on a poor or good night, take a look at my website:

https://www.tomhole.com/astronomy/what-will-it-look-like/

 

[Ronstar]

^ Nice work on the link corn!

 

[corn18]

^ Nice work on the link corn!

Thanks! I put together that whole astronomy section about 15 years ago when I was viewing all the time.

Just slewed over to M41 Andromeda and got a nice faint fuzzy. Skies aren't very dark and it is 28 deg F, so I need to find some warmer clothes.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

It was crystal clear all day. After sunset: CLOUDS.

 

[Starsky]

It was gorgeous tonight! I can't believe I was looking at both planets at once like that! We took my Celestron C5 to the beach and watched from there. It was so clear we could see 5 of Jupiter's moons and some of the color features in Jupiter and Saturn. Both objects fit well within the viewing of my 13mm wide angle lens (about 96x). I'm going to try going to 10mm (125x) tomorrow and see if I can keep it centered.

Mind completely blown! Tomorrow's the big day, and I'm going to bring my newly-acquired DSLR and try to capture it through the scope with my camera so I can blow it up and see it even better. I can't wait to see how close together they are.

 

[Sunset]

I had to peek tonight.
At first I looked at where the moon is, but nothing was around, then as I gazed left I saw a bright star , with regular binoculars (jumpy) I could see the bright spot and a smaller spot just above and to the right a little (1 o'clock).

I don't have my cheap telescope with me this year.

 

[W2R]

Frank was over here a little while ago, and then left to go get his telescope and take a look. For once, the clouds disappeared! He'll probably take a photo or two if it's as clear as we are hoping.

 

[DrRoy]

I went out to see the planetary conjunction again last night. I had tried to photograph it the night before with only fair results. This time I brought the better camera, and got a clearer shot. The planets are much sharper and you can see the moons of Jupiter! Europa and Io are close together below Jupiter, then Ganymede above, and Callisto farthest above.

 

[Ronstar]

^ Very nice! How long a lens did you use? And about what time did you take the photo?

 

[RunningBum]

You folks showing pictures, do you somehow point the camera through a telescope, or is this all your camera lens?

 

[timo2]

One of my neighbors took this with their iphone yesterday

 

[6miths]

I went out to see the planetary conjunction again last night. I had tried to photograph it the night before with only fair results. This time I brought the better camera, and got a clearer shot. The planets are much sharper and you can see the moons of Jupiter! Europa and Io are close together below Jupiter, then Ganymede above, and Callisto farthest above.

Nice image of Saturn's rings as well! Thanks for sharing. Solid cloud here today. Got a break last night for a gorgeous moonset but nothing right after sunset.