'Great Conjunction' of Jupiter and Saturn

Drove up a couple of ridges last night and even went to one of the darkest beach areas I could find on the south tip of Oahu. The clouds obscured much of the SW sky. So, we headed home but decided to try one more stop - a "tourist" overlook just Ewa of Hanauma Bay. As luck would have it, we could see the conjunction zipping in and out of the cloud cover. I had my binoculars and could easily resolve the two planets (nothing like DrRoy's fabulous shot.)

Next time the conjunction occurs, I hope to have a much BETTER perspective on it. :angel: But YMMV.
 
No need for a dark sky for this one.

The cloud bank has arrived right on schedule where I am. My old astronomy buddy who moved to Arizona said to me, "yeah, I remember when I had to worry about the weather."
 
It was raining all day. No chance for us. But then my wife mentioned the sun was shining through the front door. It was clearing up! Sure enough, the sun dropped below the horizon and I could see Jupiter. Found out a weakness in my green laser finder in that it doesn't work unless it's dark. Found them in the 28mm ep (43x) and it was incredible! Could see some color and markings on Jupiter. 5 Jupiter moons and several Saturn moons were visible. I got about 45 minutes of great viewing in before the clouds rolled back in. I am still in awe that it cleared up just in time for me to see this. Awesome!
 
Managed a quick one just before the clouds rolled in. Even with just a 300mm zoom it was pretty impressive. Looked amazing through the binoculars.
 

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through my daughter's iPhone. 86x through a 14mm Radian.
 

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Not a bad shot, especially considering how close to the horizon these planets are right now. I'm surprised they aren't much fuzzier.

Notice Ganymede about to transit the disk of Jupiter.

At least the rain quit here.
 
GalaxyBoy said:
Not a bad shot, especially considering how close to the horizon these planets are right now. I'm surprised they aren't much fuzzier.

Notice Ganymede about to transit the disk of Jupiter.

At least the rain quit here.
Click to expand...

It looked great in my binoviwers. Much clearer than that image and the webcast in that link. It felt out of this world to be watching it.
 
We went to the town beach to take a look out over Long Island Sound. The parking lot was jam packed with people who had the same idea. I set up my 6" refractor and got some decent views. The clouds started to creep in right around sunset and it was hazy, but Saturn/Jupiter were still visible until about 6pm. I made out two of the Galilean moons (I believe Io and Ganymede).
 
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Not exactly a great shot (there are folks who do better with binoculars and a webcam), but this one from my backyard a few minutes ago at least shows the various participants:


50745932812_330247685b.jpg
 
We dragged out our spotting scope on a tripod tonight around 7:15pm CST and got really decent looks at Saturn with rings, and Jupiter with three moons: Io, Europa and Ganymede. Best looks I’ve had at those planets without a telescope. Was very cool seeing the banded rings and the moons.
 
Rainy & cloudy here...can't see it....ah well, next time.
 
Good view tonight. Could see two objects with eyes. With binos, the fuzzy Saturn looked more distinct. Jupiter about 5-10x brighter. Had about 45 minutes of viewing interrupted by clouds now & then.
 
stepford said:
Not exactly a great shot (there are folks who do better with binoculars and a webcam), but this one from my backyard a few minutes ago at least shows the various participants:


50745932812_330247685b.jpg
Click to expand...
Nice Pic! Thanks for posting it!
All I have is a Nikon travel-style binocular. And with my essential tremors, further aggravated by tractor use today, Jupiter and Saturn were whizzing around in tight luminous ovals and circles, though when the shake damped out for a split second, I could see two sharp points of light.
 
Great view directly from the lanai tonight. No need to even leave the condo. Who knew?
 
DrRoy said:
Nikon D850, Sigma 100-400mm, f/6.3, 1/3s, 400mm, ISO 4500
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Thanks - I'll give something similar a whirl if/when the clouds disperse.

Went out again last night. So cloudy I could see nothing in the sky. And winds blowing over my binoculars tripod.

Could be partially clear tonight.
 
Have been watching the two converging for the past few weeks, whenever the sky was clear enough. Being on a barrier island, we get a lot of light pollution from the mainland (and our own street lights, security lights, etc.). This has kept me from taking a decent photo - but my eyes can see bright white Jupiter with a little yellow spot next to him, which I know is Saturn.

Since it took them weeks to get this close, I imagine they'll stay fairly close for a night or two more, which may allow some areas to get a glimpse.
 
The only problem is it gets lower on the horizon day by day. I really had to fight to view it through the trees.

It was nice to finally have a clear night here, and I was able to spy it through my binoculars.

When I was a kid, I wanted to become an astronomer, but technology grabbed me instead. Now that I'm retired, I'd love to make it a hobby again, but I like my sleep, and I'd have to move to the desert. Too much light pollution and trees in my region.
 
Amethyst said:
Since it took them weeks to get this close, I imagine they'll stay fairly close for a night or two more, which may allow some areas to get a glimpse.
Click to expand...

I hope so, I was really wanting to see this. Unfortunately, we had a rainy wind storm last night and thick clouds. Couldn't see anything. I think it's supposed to clear off Wednesday and Thursday.

This has not been a good year for us to view astronomical events. We had thick clouds for both the Geminid and Perseid meteor showers, and for the Neowise comet in July.

Like JoeWras, we're surrounded by trees so we have a limited view of the sky anyway, and we're close enough to Portland to get a fair amount of light pollution.
 
I live in the middle of town and have a lot of lights around me so last night I want to the local golf course and walked aways to get away from the lights and I was able to see the planets pretty good.

Do the experts think these planets were the Bethlehem star the Wise Men saw?
 
JoeWras said:
The only problem is it gets lower on the horizon day by day. I really had to fight to view it through the trees.

It was nice to finally have a clear night here, and I was able to spy it through my binoculars.
Click to expand...
Same issue here. We tried and couldn't see it last night despite clear skies, low light pollution. By the time we figured out exactly where to look it was already below the horizon (according to the Night Sky app). We'll try again tonight, but I need to find some place at a higher elevation than our house...

Can't find it now but supposedly there will be another event in 2040 where we'll be able to see 4-5 planets within 10 degrees of each other! Hope I'm around.
 
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harllee said:
Do the experts think these planets were the Bethlehem star the Wise Men saw?
Click to expand...
It is one of the best theories. It relies on the year "zero" being miscalculated, which is actually very likely.
 
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