Planets Kiss as Predicted
On the last day of June 2015, the planets Venus and Jupiter nearly kissed in silent conjunction--stunning in the western twilight. That is, stunning (verb) in the western twilight. In ensuing days the pair will slowly appear to separate. Here are what some members of Michiana Astronomical Society Inc., shared online ( [MAS-Astro:2195] Jupiter and Venus).
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Monica and I watched Venus and Jupiter set behind our neighbors' pine trees tonight. We used my 8" dob and Celestron Ultima LX 13mm eyepiece (94x, 70° Field of view) showing both comfortably in the eyepiece at the same time! Venus was a brilliant but featureless crescent and Jupiter showed it's two equatorial belts clearly along with four moons, one following at a distance, two very close together proceeding and the faintest proceeding and further out than the tight pair. Sadly, the planets descended into pine trees before it got truly dark. I hope that everyone out there got to get a peek or two!
Mike
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It was a great view. In case you missed it, here is a picture I took of the two.
Kurt
Image courtesy of Kurt Eberhardt; three stacked images taken with DSLR through a Meade ETX125.
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Yes! Good description, Mike. And lovely image, Kurt. Shortly before sunset, the moons Io and Callisto, I believe, were nearly astride each other. Here’s my image of the planetary pair tonight.
It was Io and Europa. They were near each other around 9:16 p.m.
Chuck
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I got a chance to eyeball them w/my 10 inch dob. so cool...
mark
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Nice image, Kurt!
I set my telescope out at the foot of my driveway and neighbors came to see the planet pair. I used a 25mm eyepiece, so details were not as clear as Mike's, but the neighbors certainly enjoyed seeing a crescent Venus and Jupiter with its moons. Some had never looked through a telescope before, so we took a look at our own moon, too. They had a good time and so did I!
Ruth
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we were lucky - it was clear last night and so cloudy right now...I took a look out of the second story window last night facing west and felt the joy that comes with a conjunction. our west view includes pine trees too, but I beat the setting time by only 5 minutes!
i think it looked like a silver earring post strung with a monofilament strand that was supporting a nice diamond, just moving a bit to the side with a breeze...
linda
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Nice! Here are some iPhone pics taken from Jordan Hall, ND (Notre Dame)
Aaron
Image courtesy of Aaron McNeely.
Leading Up to the Conjunction
Like two people, converging Venus and Jupiter nearly kissed. The approach of this pair has been no surprise. These are the same two planets that hundreds of people observed on the Jefferson St. Bridge for the SB150 Birthday Weekend. With the Fahey Telescope aimed high and with no step stool, many people witnessed Jupiter and its moons before sunset.
Image courtesy of Bruce Miller.
In June, each gap between cloudy evenings revealed a change in the relative separation of bright Venus and nearby Jupiter.
Reading the star charts of Jupiter and Venus near conjunction...
Since the last new moon, several times before sunset I've seen Venus naked-eye, though it doesn't show well in small photos.
And then the pair met. Venus dominated the western twilight sky, with more distant Jupiter slightly above and to its right, shown here from Lake Michigan. Now the two planets will slowly separate.
