Jupiter and the moon tonight
Don’t forget. Tonight Jupiter and moon are in conjunction and only about 2 degrees (four moon diameters) apart. Watch for the pair to rise in the northeastern sky around 8 p.m. local time.
While you’re out, turn your gaze to the northern sky. Recent solar CMEs (coronal mass ejections) have set the Earth’s magnetosphere aquiver, dumping high speed particles into the upper atmosphere to create auroras. The sky lit up over Norway last night from solar storms. Sky watchers in the northern U.S. may have their turn tonight. I’ll update the blog later today if auroras are imminent.
Moonlight reflects off waves on Lake Superior Monday night. Photo: Bob King
On Monday evening I got out in time to watch the full moon rise over Lake Superior. Moonrise occurred just 10 minutes before sunset, giving sky watchers that key 15-minute “photo window” when moonlight is balanced by the fading light of day. How pleasing to the eye to see a pink moon against Earth’s purplish shadow.
The full Hunter’s Moon rises over the lighthouse at the end of the Duluth, Minn. ship canal Monday night. Photo: Bob King
Great Moon-lighthouse pic. May I ask which focal length did you use?
Giorgio,
I was using a 100-400mm lens at about 300mm, aperture f/5.6, ISO 800 and exposure around 1/60 second.
Thank you very much Bob
Kinda cool to see the moon and Jupiter radiant in the Friday morning pre-sunrise sky, with Jupiter still shinin’ on after all the other stars and planets had faded to invisibility.
That’s cool Chuck. Another person I worked with noticed the same thing. Wish I would have turned around to look when I was walking the dog around 7:30 a.m.
I have a special liking for seeing and photographing planets at dawn, or even daylight – with or without scope. This autumn at several dawns I took notes of the naked-eye disappearing times of planets and main stars. Jupiter turned out to be pretty interesting, because it usually disappears exactly at sunrise or 10m earlier but, if sky is clear and one knows where to look, it can last up to 5 minutes past sunrise, so it’s seen in daylight!
Venus lasts more, up to at least 20 minutes after sunrise.
Stellarium predicts such disappearing times pretty well, it’s only a bit pessimistic – objects in Stellarium disappear slight earlier: 5m for stars, 10m for planets.
Of course these times depend also on observer and long term factors, like planet’s magnitude, distance from Sun along ecliptic, ecliptic inclination (especially for Mercury). My results above are for Sep10-Oct05. If they’re much different in other times, Bob please correct me
Giorgio,
You’ve made careful observations of the planets’ visibility. I concur on Jupiter, especially when it’s far from the sun as it is now and you know where to look. The moon was a big help the other morning. A haze-free sky is a must. Now that you’ve seen Venus 20 minutes after sunrise, see if you can find it even later in the day. If you know where to look, Venus is visible in plain daylight in the late morning and afternoon. I’ve spotted it using the moon as a guide. We’ll have that opportunity again on Nov. 11 when the waning crescent is near the planet. Hopefully it will be clear that day for you. Let us know if you’re able to track it even later.
…and here I thought I was the only one who got a huge kick out of seeing planets in daylight. Sure would appreciate details for Venus on the 11th.
The dog and I watched the conjunction from 2 until well after daylight. It was a magnificent night.
Speaking of magnificent, all those pix are stunning, but the Moon reflected on the waves…sublime.
MBZ,
I’ll have more info on the conjunction next week. Glad you enjoyed the moonlight on waves – I kind of liked that one too.
Yes, Jupiter is now near opposition (or distant to Sun along ecliptic) so less blinded by dawn sunlight. As for Venus, indeed I wasn’t sure how much it lasts. However, though in scope I can of course see her at any hour if she’s above horizon, at naked eye in this season I’m pretty sure I can see her after sunrise only for no more than half an hour, or maybe one hour – no more because I point her with scope so I know where to look at naked eye but, though that, don’t see her at eye. Possibly I still hadn’t a really clear day? I never thought, however, about using the Moon in conjunctions as a guide to find planets in daylight. I’ll try on Nov 11, thanx for the tip!
Giorgio,
Yes, the moon’s my favorite guide. More on the conjunction soon.