Venus/Jupiter Conjunction Tomorrow

TigerNut writes "I've been watching Venus and Jupiter creep closer together in the morning sky for the last few weeks, and tomorrow will be their closest approach, according to this table. The table also indicates this will be the closest that Venus and Jupiter will appear until 2014. Happy viewing! There's more on the conjunction at Universe Today."

Re:Best viewing point?

[lakiolen]

I would assume, from the article, the northern hemisphere; since it talks about it and shows consellations from said hemisphere.

Pictures!

[BisonHoof]

Excellent pictures here: http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/vj_conj_nov04.html [digitalsky.org.uk]

Good site, lets /. this one too

[tuxter]

http://www.iac.es/galeria/mrk/JupVen2.html

Re:Best viewing point?

[Tablizer]

I suspect that some longitutes are better than others because the closest (visual) approach may last only about an hour. If your morning happens too early, then it will be too bright during the closest approach because the sun will already be up. If your morning happens too late, then the closest approach will happen before the planets rise above the horizon from your perspective.

Re:Many eclipsi

[tetranitrate]

All in all, a good night, but I think that the eclipse was visible over quite a large area.

Lunar eclipses are visible to the whole world, at least those those that can see the moon between the times of umbral contacts, which is usually more than half the world.

During a lunar eclipse everyone sees the same thing (well almost due to parallax), since it isn't the Earth being eclipsed, but the moon. During a solar eclipse the Earth is being eclipsed, and so we see it differently depending on where we are on Earth. If we were on the moon, solar eclipses would look the same to everyone.

Re:Best viewing point?

[Gordonjcp]

I stay in Glasgow (about half-way up the west coast of Scotland, for the geographically-challenged). I saw the two planets very close together yesterday morning on my way to work. About 0600 they were fairly high in the east, and apparently about, er... (holds arm out with thumb and index finger about an inch apart) *that* far apart. Don't know what that is in arc units. Very cool. I would have stopped for a photo but I was on the motorway and running a little late.

Re:Best viewing point?

[frizzbit]

Since closest approach was at 1:57 UT and Venus and Jupiter rise an hour before sunrise that means anywhere where it is dawn at around this time, which would be southern and eastern Africa, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, central Asia and eastern Siberia.

Your exact location does really matter though since the planets move slowly enough that the planets will still be very close if you look today or tomorrow morning. You need to get out just as dawn is begining to break and look in the east (the direction where the sun is early in the morning). Providing there is nothing much obstructing your view in that direction near the horizon you should be able to spot the two planets close together before the sun comes up.

How to know you're definitely looking at Venus and Jupiter?

They will be brighter than any stars but not by that much with Venus noticeably brighter than Jupiter.

Both pale yellow/orange.

Will rise together. You will not see their separation change unless you look the next morning.

Re:Best viewing point?

[erick99]

If you live in the U.S. you should have a good view. Most astronomy sites say the northen hemisphere in general. On Nov. 9th the moon/Venus/Jupiter will form an impressive triangle worth seeing.

Re:Best viewing point?

[tonsofpcs]

Probably either NASA TV [nasa.gov] or behind the lens of a telescope or large telephoto camera lens.

--
My manual camera (Minolta X-370s or SRT-202 depending on my mood) should have a great view [260mm lens with 2x multiplier]

Re:Best viewing point?

[tonsofpcs]

How so? From Venus you would not see Jupiter and Venus line up, but rather Jupiter on one side, and Earth on the other.

--
Perspective is everything.

Re:Best viewing point?

[tonsofpcs]

Also, http://www.spaceweather.com/ [spaceweather.com] should have some pictures (it has some already).

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In case of slashdot effect, please break braces, read comment.
<!--http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.spac eweather.com/ [archive.org]-->

Anti-astrological note

[panurge]

All this conjunction stuff is so much horse manure. Venus is INSIDE the earth's orbit and Jupiter is OUTSIDE it. They are both a very long way apart.

Yes, I know this is obvious to anyone with an education, but I'd like a little more precision in statements about planets. Jupiter and Venus cannot be at their closest when their positions seen from Earth coincide because at this point they cannot be in a direct line with the Sun - think about it. Their apparent positions in the sky may be closest, but at the point at which they are actually closest they must be visually separated from the point of view of Earth.

And for some of these posters who are wilfully misunderstanding the whole thing, the best place to see Venus and Jupiter (reasonably) close together is the Uffizi, in Firenze (Florence) Italy. There is a story that at one time the Uffizi used to show only one large Botticelli at a time so as not tog et the visitors over-excited.

Re:Anti-astrological note

[Anonymous Coward]

conjunction:
(3) noun; an alignment of three or more astronomical bodies

This is a conjunction of Earth, Venus, and Jupiter. Not all lines coincide with the Sun. I agree with your statement, "this is obvious to anyone with an education", but I must add the caveat of having the capability to apply it.

Re:Pictures!

[Gamasta]

Yeah, really nice pictures.

Notice also that close to the second biggest light source (meaning Jupiter) are several bright dots in a line. For those who have never seen this through a telescope, it was first observed by Galileu in 1610. Those are its four biggest satellites of Jupiter. You can see them well in the last pictures.

Re:Today?

[drewness]

To Europeans, 5/11/04 is November 5th 2004. It's like a little-endian date. DD/MM/YY.
The Japanese like big-endian dates YY/MM/DD, so today would be 04/11/05.
If anything, the American way of doing dates is weird.

Re:Best viewing point?

[Idarubicin]

and apparently about, er... (holds arm out with thumb and index finger about an inch apart) *that* far apart. Don't know what that is in arc units.

For quick and dirty estimation, the width of a finger at arm's length is one to two degrees. The width of a closed fist at arm's length is about ten degrees. For a splayed hand, the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the pinky finger is twenty to twenty-five degrees.

The hand and finger rules of thumb (ahem) hold reasonably well across most people because the size of the hand usually scales with the length of the arm.

The Sun or a full moon are both about half a degree across--roughly the same angular size as an Aspirin tablet at arm's length.