Jupiter (left) and the moon through a small telescope this morning around 6 a.m. If you look closely you can see four of the planet’s moon – three below and one above. To properly expose Jupiter’s moons I had to overexpose our own moon. Details: 1/4″ exposure at ISO 400. Photo: Bob King
Even though you can use software to predict and picture something like Jupiter and the moon squaring up this morning, seeing it is quite a different experience. They were just, well, so tight and so bright together. It’s been a while since we’ve had such a close conjunction of the moon and a bright planet visible from North America.
I trained a small 4-inch refracting telescope on the pair and enjoyed the extreme contrast in their textures and colors. First the moon: all edgy with craters and long shadows and the color of an old photograph. Creamy Jupiter with its sleak belts looked airbrushed in contrast.
Jupiter sits atop the last quarter moon in morning twilight today Saturday September 8. Photo: Bob King
Another unexpected aspect of the conjunction was seeing how fast the moon moved. Jupiter stood directly above (north) of the moon at 6 a.m. (CDT), but a half hour later, I could plainly see that the two were slightly “out of alignment”.
While the planet faded in a bluing sky, it was still easily visible with the naked eye at sunrise.
Matter of fact, if you’re reading this now and missed the conjunction, you can still see it this morning in broad daylight. Point your binoculars at the moon high in the southwestern sky, and use the illustration from yesterday’s blog. I just spotted it in my pair of 8 x 40s at 9:30 today; Jupiter was quite easy and looked like a pale white dot. For those of you who got up early to see the conjunction, I hope you feel compensated for your lost pillow time.
Very nice picture Mr. King. Do you have any suggestions on a good book I could look for
regarding entry level astrophotography? Something simple and easy to understand?
Thanks.
Thanks very much Russ. I don’t have a particular book suggestion since I’m embarrassed to say it’s been a long time since I read a book on the topic. Here are some suggestions: http://www.stargazing.net/david/astrophoto/photolib.html
and http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Astrophotography-Jeffrey-R-Charles/dp/1852330236
Hi Bob,
I checked out the conjunction this morning too- very nice. And I could see Jupiter’s position change over the 1/2 hour I looked, beginning around 6 am. I could not tell if the GSR was out or if I was just seeing a divet in the belt. Venus was almost the same phase as the moon. I even had the perception of being able to see Aristarchus’s depth.
If I might comment about the previous question of a good astrophotaghy book, I like “Astrophotography for the Amateur” by Michael Covington. I have the older edition, but the newer covers digital techniques. It covers all the techniques one can use for attaching a regular camera to a telescope.
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your Covington book suggestion. I read that one long ago. Glad to hear it’s still considered a good choice and updated to boot. Your “divet” was indeed the GRS and its associated “hollow”. The spot is very pale pink.
Are we getting all these conjunctions and transits because the planets are aligning in the same plane?
Hi Robert,
Yes, conjunctions happen because the moon and planets are in approximately the same plane in the solar system.
Nice one!
I live in Brazil, and as you know, here we have an occultation!
Wake up early to get it, but the wind and Windows 7 (…) did not help, so the best I can muster is a short video. Used my Celestron C8 at F/10 – no time to put up my 4 inches refractor! – a Lumenera SkyNyx and a IR filter. You can take a look at http://youtu.be/z7Gb7e4h4Fg
Dear Almir,
That is a wonderful video. Thank you for the link. Exciting to see the conjunction/occultation from a very different perspective. I encourage other readers to check it out!