New Year's Eve Planet Conjunction Thread

[martinastro]

No problem Richard. 

Here's two charts for the New Year's Eve planet conjunction. These are for N. Ireland , however the scene will not differ too much for those in the US or E. Thanks to John McConnell for making these.

[brianb]

however the scene will not differ too much for those in the US or E.

1. The planets will be higher in the sky the further south you are. (Rotate the chart one degree clockwise for each degree of latitude less than 54.5 degrees, or whatever the latitude used for the charts was; it will also be possible to observe a little closer to the time of sunset in a more southerly latitude.)

2. The planets are fairly slow moving but the Moon moves about one degree to the upper left every two hours; therefore observers in the western USA will see the Moon about four degrees from the charted position.

[rjgjr]

The conjunction looks like it will be an incredible sight. Great illustrations. Good luck to all of you in your viewing. Chances don't look good here on the Oregon Coast. We just finished up 54 hours recording 11.67" of rain, quite a lot even for here, with more forecast.

[brianb]

We just finished up 54 hours recording 11.67" of rain

Gosh, well at least the ducks should be happy!

[Roman White]

We just finished up 54 hours recording 11.67" of rain, quite a lot even for here,

That is a big amount but sometimes I had even more (even much more).
For example, 2006 June 13 - a crazy summer day which I'll never forget.
Daytime temperature was +13...+20C (cool as for June)
Two powerful T-storms (one before noon, another in the evening) with strong winds and heavy downpours.
50mm = 20" of daily precip.
Sometimes during the rainfall there were a few centimeters of water on the flat ground.
One tree in my garden was ruined with the storm, many big branches were laying in the streets.

Dec.31 multi-conjunction will be again with a little bonus to me - lunar occultation of HIP107491 (7.6mag) at 16:29 EET. Not visible in UK (occurs in daylight)

[Tyler]

I finally spotted mercury, but couldnt set up the cam, but tommorow evening should be good here! I have to work on the eve of the new year.Just got back from Northern Minnesota, and will post a thread of the photos

[Big Dipper]

Thanks for the information Martin.

I feel that I have been seriously short-changed this Christmas as I was 'promised' clear skies for Boxing night & the nights thereafter. Each time clouds have either rolled in by about 6pm - or have remained there throughout the previous day. Again I shall stay up til gone 3am in hope of a clearance but looking out of the window, I am not all all optimistic. 

[martinastro]

Info from Terry Moseley

NEW YEAR'S EVE FREE SKY SHOW: Brilliant Venus will be joined by a beautiful crescent moon, with Earthshine (commonly known as 'the old moon in the new moon's arms), and if you look carefully lower down and to the right you'll see a nice pairing of the smallest and the largest planets in our Solar System: Mercury and Jupiter. And if you have a telescope or really big binoculars you can look for the most distant planet, Neptune, though it will be very faint, at magnitude 8. (Yes, I'm reluctantly conceding Pluto's demotion from planetary status for the purpose of this comparison!).

Firstly, the Moon & Venus: they will be unmistakable, visible in the SW twilight as soon as the sky starts to darken: say about 4.30 p.m. Venus will be 2.7 degrees below & left of the Moon. Venus will be fairly nearly as bright as it can get, at magnitude -4.3, and in a telescope you should be able to spot the phase, which will be 57.9, or just more than 'half'. The Moon will be 15.1% illuminated, and as the sky darkens, look for the lovely 'Earthshine', which is sunlight reflected from the Earth onto the Moon (if you were standing on the Moon at that time you would see an almost 'full' Earth), and then back again to our eyes.

Next, look for Jupiter and Mercury: Jupiter will be 27 degrees to the lower right of the Moon - that's a bit more than the length of the 'Plough' or the 'Big Dipper'. If you don't know the sky well enough to use that as a scale, just follow a line from the Moon down towards the horizon at an angle equivalent to about 4.00 to 4.30 on a clock face: you should spot Jupiter as a brightish 'star' about 10 degrees above the horizon. However it won't be all that easy to see, as the sky will still be quite bright, and you'll need a clear Western horizon. Jupiter will be magnitude -1.9, but it won't look that bright against the bright sky background. Use wide-field binoculars if you have them, but only after the Sun has set!

Once you've found Jupiter, look 1.25 degrees below & to its left & you should spot Mercury, noticeably fainter than Jupiter at magnitude -0.7. You should be able to see it without optical aid if the sky is clear & haze-free, but once again binoculars will help. If you have a telescope you might just be able to see the phase, which will be about 72%, i.e. noticeably gibbous.

Finally, for your last target, you'll have to pick the best time between the sky getting dark enough to see it, and Neptune's decreasing altitude into the thickening low altitude atmosphere and haze, to spot that planet. Neptune will be 4 degrees 38' West of Venus, and 25' further South than Venus, if you have equatorial co-ordinates on your mount. If not, just look 3 degrees 22' below right of the centre of the Moon: that's about 20% more than the distance from the centre of the Moon to Venus. About three quarters of the way along that direction you'll pass the top right member of a line of 3 stars which are a good bit brighter than Neptune, at between magnitude 5 and 6. Neptune will lie just more than a lunar diameter beyond that star. All you'll see will be a faint 8th magnitude 'star', unless you have a fairly powerful telescope which might just show the tiny disc of the planet. I would start looking from about 5 p.m., or a bit later if you are in the far South or West of the Island.

If you succeed, you'll have seen in one evening the nearest and furthest planets from the Sun, and the largest and smallest planets in our Solar System, plus our own Moon.  And if you are really keen, look for Uranus about 2 degrees above left of 4th magnitude Phi Aquarii, and if you wait until about midnight you'll see bright Saturn rising below the hind quarters of Leo the lion. That's all the planets in our SS, apart from Mars, which is too close to the Sun to be visible from Ireland.  Good Luck! (Venus will also be close to the crescent Moon in our evening skies at the end of January and February, but not quite as close as this time, and without Mercury & Jupiter in the vicinity.)
 

[Tyler]

well I treked a long ways to get to this location on the missouri river (4 miles) in 30 mph winds, gusting to 50mph! combined with the 32 degree temps the wind chill was 4 degrees! very blustery. anyway, as soon as I got there the clouds rolled in (sigh) and only got one decent shot of two planets and the moon. If you look closely you can see Jupiter right next to the right support on the bridge.



I have to work tommorow, so probably wont see this again

One more shot of DTomaha

[rjgjr]

Great shots Tyler. What kind of exposure settings were used? Just curious.

[Roman White]

Fantastic view from that place. Great shots, Tyler 

The sky above me is completely overcast today, so again I miss the conjunction 

[martinastro]

Lovely images Tyler. The trio look brilliant above that nice bridge! 

Nothing but cloud here which is very disappointing. Will not give up hope just yet though.

[brianb]

Nothing but cloud here which is very disappointing.

Similar to yesterday ... when it cleared up just after it went dark, the transparency was very poor though especially near the horizon so not good for Jupiter & Mercury. The air in this anticyclone has gone stale, it needs a front to pass through to freshen it up a bit.

[martinastro]

That's exactly what we need. A good front to pass through would do the works. The Sun is breaking out here now with broken cloud, don't think the chances of seeing Jupiter and Mercury are good at all but if I'm lucky I might catch the Moon and Venus.

Good luck everyone.

[Paul]

I am being let off work in time to have a go at this Prospects seem to better near the coast so I shall go to my standard "western horizon" spot at Raloo - power lines are the only thing to spoil the view.

Good luck all!