Jupiter & Venus closing!

[Tyler]

Holy Crap, you guys should see the APOD today, its amazing! overlooking LA, all the smog, its crazy...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0812/happyla_jurasevich_big.jpg

[martinastro]

That's a great image. Lovely contrast!!

Have you seen Mike Hollingshead's conjunction images Tyler?. Stunning car trails and planets captured!

[Tyler]

oh yeah those were great, over i80. I noticed them on your site too, and thanks for featuring my photo on your site   

[Tyler]

attempted some trails last night...

[martinastro]

That's very cool Tyler. What was the exposure on those?. I can only push 30 sec's with my camera so I can't get any decent trails  , I need to get a DSLR.

I have a report on the site about the conjunction if anyone is interested in having a look....

http://www.nightskyhunter.com/Venus,Jupiter,%20Moon%20Conjunction%20-%20Dec%201st%2008%20-%20Page%201.html

My eyes are sore looking at the computer screen. I will need to check over it again for mistakes.

[Roman White]

Martin, your report is great! Enjoyed wathcing the photos, especially the one from Dec.01 with Moon & cloud (widefield).

Tyler, it's nice to see something different. Well done.

That APOD image has a breathtaking foreground!

BTW have you already seen Spaceweather pages 1,2 on conjunction? Great selection of images. I can't wait to see more.

 

[rjgjr]

I really love that shot of LA with the conjunction. I've been on Mt. Wilson many times, but only during the daytime. Have to be brave to go up there at night, lots of loonies. Tyler, I love the star trail photo you did. That's something I want to get back into whenever I get a remote shutter release for my Canon. Hopefully Santa will remember to put one in my stocking this Christmas.

Richard

[JohnC]

A great read, Martin. My favourite photos have to be at the roadside and how lucky to get a Cb in the frame as well.

[martinastro]

Cheers John. I should have went down to the road earlier on Dec 1st and got car trails with all three bodies above the road. I regret not getting a shot of the conjunction over the road centre, as it converges to the horizon. Probably a blessing though, the road was too dangerous anyway.

Had another look at the planets this evening, they are still extremely attractive looking. Planety of photo opps still waiting.

Love that image of the planet and light house on SW.

[John9929]

True Martin, this is them at 16:52UT.

[martinastro]

Nice one John. Good to see these planets are still being photographed. I regret not taking an image this evening as they looked amazing over the patchy snow. I must turn the scope on them on Sat. Tracking them both down in daylight would be interesting.

[Paul]

I got around to slinging this up to YouTube - see how lucky I was with the weather!



Enjoy!

Paul.

[JohnC]

Oh - How disappointing for you, you remained remarkably resigned (calm)  to the impending cloud cover   but it was nevertheless fascinating, I haven't seen that event before ...well done.

[martinastro]

Great video Paul. I really enjoyed that!.

Venus and Jupiter are still looking great. This evening they where only about 7 degrees apart in a horizontal line. Venus to the L, and Jupiter to the R. Took a few snaps. Severe frost at the time with patchy snow still on the ground. It hasn't thawed here at all in three days. I observed both planets in the 8.5" F/7 reflector. I could see the phase of Venus and belts of Jupiter. I earlier spotted Venus in daylight with the naked eye while the Sun was still up. I was surprised how easy it was. I had just woken up late after an all night observing session, looked out the window...and there she was! The 16.19 UT ISS pass was also visible in very bright twilight. The station passed below the Moon. I tracked it in the scope and could see great structure from the solar panels.

[John9929]

Nice Martin! Yes, I was able to see Venus very early as well due south and well before the sun set. Try as I did I couldn't see the ISS on the first pass, the sky was just too bright. Got it on the 17:55UT pass though. For the second or third time this week I have seen bright meteors while watching the ISS. Long slow and with a long tail, "earth grazers?"  Got some images of the planets as well but they are similar to your's so no need to upload them. Lovely sunset today as well!