Astronomy, Photography and Weather

I think it's about time we got some info together for this conjunction. Any data for various locations and charts are welcome. Got this in an email from David Moore.

This New Year's Eve, 5 planets and our Moon will put on a spectacular show in the evening sky to celebrate the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, the United Nations International Year of Astronomy. Uranus, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Mercury, along with our own Moon, will be visible in the evening skies in the same stretch of sky. The most spectacular of all will be a blazing Venus beside the Moon. This event only happens a few times every century so don't miss out!
 
Thanks for John McConnell for this chart.

(http://i42.tinypic.com/wuq9za.jpg)

Now I understand why 2009 was chosen as an IYA. They looked for a year with a great planetary conjunction on the start and a partial lunar eclipse on the finish  ;D

I hope that everyone will have at least a bit of clear skies in the New Year's eve.  :)

A sky chart from my site...
(http://www.poltava-astro.narod.ru/bulk/31dec2008_2en.GIF)

Thanks Martin and John for the chart i will be keeping to camera on stand by!

i attempted to shoot this tonight but apparently Mercury is not even visible after sunset! and in 10 days its supposed to be with Jupiter! Yikes! hope it is visible by the 27th, as I am going to Minnesota on christmas day, through new years eve, eve (30th)

Mercury does move rather fast .... and Jupiter is heading for the horizon quite quickly. Not the best conditions for those of us in the North.

Planet Venus looks stunning at the moment with the naked eye in broad daylight!. I just looked out my window and could see it within a few seconds against a glorious crisp Winter's sky.  :)

Went up the road for a few photos and a scout around with the binos - caught Mercury, Jupiter and Venus

Here's Mercury, so-called as it's always right down in the Merc....

(http://paulni.co.uk/images/mercury081227.jpg)

And Venus showing a clear phase now....

(http://paulni.co.uk/images/venus081227.jpg)

Good catch Paul, keep em coming.

Thank you Richard!

One other planet caught this evening, a little later on after true darkness arrived - Neptune. Unfortunately there a little shake on this one - N marks the spot!

(http://paulni.co.uk/images/neptune081227.jpg)

Good shooting Paul. Nice line about Merc too :). Love that image with Venus and Neptune!

Was at the shore of Lough Neagh this evening in Ballyronan Marina. Seen a stunning volcanic sunset with intense colours with Venus and Jupiter on show. I had a great location but just could not see Mercury at all so I am one down on the planet list. That colourful sky was the best I have seen in a long time.  A few shots. Colours are untouched.

(http://i41.tinypic.com/25rpo1w.jpg)

(http://i43.tinypic.com/25z1qg9.jpg)

Jupiter is in there too if you look closely. Severe frost all day and night here.

(http://i41.tinypic.com/j7aixk.jpg)

(http://i41.tinypic.com/35jvuh1.jpg)

Great shots Martin and fantastic range of light spectrum. What are the volcanic sunsets all are always talking about?

Lovely shots of the sunset and planets there Martin! Once I'd got the camera set up on the new 'scope and focussed correctly I didn't do any widefields at all. Actually as you can tell from the Mercury shot I was at my favourite westward viewing spot in Raloo, but the widefield view isn't so good as all the powerlines from Ballylumford Power Station appear in the foreground.

Richard, ever since a volcano went off somewhere in Alaska we've had these purple/orange sunsets due to the dust thrown up into the upper atmosphere - it's been a few months now. In ideal conditions like tonight they can be very impressive - Martin's photos are showing the colours as they appeared this evening.

Thanks for the info on the volcano sunset, I thought it might be something like that. I was thinking more like Iceland, but you've probably had that also.

Thanks very much Paul.

Richard, we have been getting these colourful sunset after-glows for months now but this one was the best I have ever seen. Might put a few more up on a new thread. Here's a link to some info...

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz106.htm

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/atoptics/sunvolc.htm

Thanks again for all the great photos gentlemen. I'm sure we have the same volcanic sunsets here on the west coast, I just didn't realize it. I have hundreds of clear sky sunset photos, I'll have to go back through them and take a look more carefully. Martin, thanks for those two website links about the different sunsets and such, very interesting.

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.

(http://i39.tinypic.com/t9i6tj.jpg)

(http://i43.tinypic.com/2q1wgma.jpg)

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.

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.

Gosh, well at least the ducks should be happy!

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)

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

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.  >:(

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.)
 

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.

(http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/Tyler_greatsky/CR1-10.jpg)

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

One more shot of DTomaha

(http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/Tyler_greatsky/CR2-10.jpg)

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

Fantastic view from that place. Great shots, Tyler  :)

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

Good luck Paul.

I was going to head to the Lough shore but have aborted that plan. It's clear here though but the sky is in poor shape. I can see Venus and the Moon so things are looking up. Annoyingly the sky behind me in the N is clear and blue but the S looks to have more haze and cloud. It might fizzle out when the Sun goes below the horizon. Lovely red glow from the Sun now, faint pillar and halo present. Freezing outside!

I've got the same, no realistic chance of seeing J, still less M so I'm not going to the bother of relocating somewhere with a clear horizon. Will have a go at the Venus/Moon conjunction when it's got a bit darker.

Wow! I wrote that only 4 hours ago. But I forgot that a mirracle can happen on a New Year's night!  :D

It cleared here for a few moments at 17-18h EET and I had a luck to see Moon & Venus.  :)

The sky wasn't comletely clear, there was a mixture of medium-thick Ac (which caused haze and hampered the observations of Neptune and Uranus) and patches of Sc (which were moving across, sometimes even obscuring the Moon). Of course I couldn't see Jupiter & Mercury because there were too much clouds low above the SW horizon. The sky looked like this:
(http://i059.radikal.ru/0812/ec/702a09c1faf1.jpg)

A closer shot without clouds  :)
(http://i030.radikal.ru/0812/bc/52729b11027d.jpg)

Tried a longer exposure to catch the earthshine but the haze was hard to remove
(http://i068.radikal.ru/0812/a4/7fc0d597313f.jpg)

Then it started to snow at 17:40 EET but the planets were still visible! I captured a short videoclip during the snowfall.  :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9qhgyP3ftg

I'm afraid we have  fog  descending upon us and  it's  miserably cold - would you be better driving  a bit north, Martin.? I suppose you're out there now ,as I write.

I hope you chaps are off the road when  the drinkers start their journeys from house to house and town to town.

Sky was and is as thick as pea soup here - that's another one the Met Office didn't see coming! So I went up to Killylane to try and get above it but it was still not so good - waited for a passing gap in the clouds and got a few shots. Here's about the best of them....

(http://paulni.co.uk/images/venusmoon081231.jpg)

Nice catches Roman - sounds like you were very lucky!

Not a chance of Jupiter and Mercury of course, but they'll still be there tomorrow.

Paul.

Terrible observing conditions here, never really saw the moon and Venus without cloud cover. Got a semi-break about 17.30UT and ran off a few shots, this is one of them. No mission in seeing Jupiter and Mercury.
(http://i43.tinypic.com/69kd2w.jpg)

Good work Roman, Paul, and John. Similar conds here. Mer and Jup both hidden by cloud and fog. The crescent Moon and Venus still looked great though. Mostly stayed at wide field....

(http://i42.tinypic.com/214tbgo.jpg)

(http://i39.tinypic.com/5wzaxe.jpg)

(http://i42.tinypic.com/jfduuh.jpg)

(http://i40.tinypic.com/3599v05.jpg)

(http://i43.tinypic.com/dcy5mt.jpg)

Good images guys  i got these two of the moon and venus.
(http://i44.tinypic.com/2w5ty87.jpg)
(http://i43.tinypic.com/2gv332p.jpg)

jonathan.

I got a few too but they do look very similar to others & they aren't processed yet. Thin high cloud spreading the light around a bit, thicker towards the horizon, no hope of seeing Jupiter or Mercury .... probably bye-bye Jupiter until Spring is here.

Hi Richard, The first shot was 1/2s shutter speed at f/5.6 ISO 200, 18mm #2. was at 1s shutter, aperture and ISO were the same, but at 38mm. Hope that helps!

sounds like no one is having luck with this one  :-\ :'( sorry guys! - looks like I might have clear skies, but I will be at work so...who knows if Ill be able to see it let alone image it. great images with the conditions though guys! everyone got some earthshine!

Thanks for the exposure info Tyler. I must have the worst sky conditions of all, 30 minutes til sunset and raining heavily. Oh well!!!

Sorry to hear about the weather Richard hope you manage to catch something. I know it's a while to go for you yet but a Happy New Year anyways, lets hope it's a good one!

I spoke too soon, I did have a small clearing for several moments. Funny, I was heading to take a shower (I know that's probably too much information) and I took one last look out the bedroom window, when I saw the moon through the trees. I threw on a bathrobe and slippers and dashed out the door with my camera and tripod, my wife, as usual,  shaking her head the whole time. Not much of a photo, but it does show the movement of the moon above Venus over a period of time as compared to Roman and those in Ireland and Britain. Glad I got a glimpse anyway.

(http://i42.tinypic.com/dlp5s5.jpg)

well I guess I got the Luckiest out of all of us! I didnt know I was till I uploaded the photos. The Mercury and Jupiter shot I had no intention in catching them, Just trying to get a cool sunset shot, but to my suprise they showed up!

(http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/Tyler_greatsky/Cr1-11.jpg)

(http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/Tyler_greatsky/CR2-11.jpg)

Well done Tyler!

Lovely shots Tyler! I bet that the full size version of #1 has all four bodies in it if you look closely - the Two Brightest objects in the Night Sky together with the largest and smallest planets!

Really enjoyed looking through these - it's awful here -I suppose it's the same for most of us in the UK.

Beautiful sunset, Tyler. And everyone's photos here are nice too. :)

Today's evening was the compensation for yesterday's bad weather: it is totally clear now!  :D (although -8C).
Have seen Jup.&Merc., catched all 4 on the one shot. Moon & Venus still look brilliant as the sky becomes darker. My observing session is not finished yet. Now I'm going outside with a telescope...

And if the weather will stay as perfect as now for the most of the night, I will recall that there are three comets (144P, C/2007N3, C/2008X4) and Quadrantids just started.  ;D

Clear skies to all  :)

Roman, I really enjoyed watching your video clip with the snow and planets at the same time. That's a special experience to end the year!

John C, The N did look best but since it was already clear at home I decided to stay in Maghera and take advantage of the sky when I had it. Lucky I did because when I ended the session at 18.00 the clouds and fog thickened and nothing could be seen after that time.

Richard, a nice record for the collection. I could picture you running out with the bathrope and slippers in a panic to get an image. I have done the same a few times before....even without shoes  :)

Tyler, impressive images. Well done catching all five bodies. Those sunset coloured strips of cloud look incredible. Good to see all the images from various locations around the world!

Good luck with those comets Roman...I'm going afrer Lulin now if I can ever get a clear morning.

Happy New Year!

Great going guy's!

Probably a mistake - last night was not too bad here, variable transparency but quite good at times especially in the small hours, a patch of thicker cloud 10pm - 1am. Cool (-5.5C min) but no wind, so quite comfortable. A bit of mist in the air which the ****** streetlighting was making luminous, probably helped by reflection from the thick hoar frost which formed on the ground, so the view to the south east was poor (Bushmills & the rest of the village).

Funnily enough it clouded over at dawn (stratocumulus), cleared again at dusk, was reasonably transparent for a couple of hours but the Sc seems to be moving back in now.

I wouldn't call it a mistake, it was a good decision because I got to see the conjunction which was the main thing.  :) I wasn't planning on observing after the planets set anyway. Need to recharge the physical batteries for some pre-dawn sessions to come.

Cloudy and foggy all day and evening here. Can't even see the Moon!

Thanks Martin

Here are the photos from today's evening - the first evening of the year and it was nice!  :)

Mercury & Jupiter
(http://i053.radikal.ru/0901/ae/26407c87d801.jpg)

All 4 together
(http://s40.radikal.ru/i089/0901/8e/af2c6cc60db8.jpg)
(damn, I wrote '2008'. Sorry for that)

Single Moon
(http://s41.radikal.ru/i091/0901/ce/1915a9393893.jpg)

And you will ask me "What is this?" This is a view from my window.   ;D Try to find in there 2 natural decorations  ;)
(http://s47.radikal.ru/i117/0901/62/a65dd9e639c4.jpg)

Well done Roman!!!  ;)..love that wide shot with all four. Good job.

Great shot Roman. As Martin said, very tough to get all four in one photo, one of the few that did!

Thanks Martin and Richard.
Now the Sun has set already, and I'm going to observe the planets again. The weather is fantastic now: completely clear!  :D

Lucky you Roman..enjoy it!  :)

Here's a short video clip of the Dec 31st conjunction.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hQivN3OcArY

Lovely shots Roman, and all of course! Getting all four - or five including Earth - is a great achievement. Well done!

Nice video, Martin.  :)
Thanks Paul

My shots from Jan.02 evening:

Mercury is higher than yesterday (http://i043.radikal.ru/0901/5b/bf1ecdb084ed.jpg)

Venus & Moon still looked great together
(http://s55.radikal.ru/i150/0901/a5/d23e82241f08.jpg)

Better late than never - here's my best image of the Moon/Venus conjunction:
(http://www.bbhvig.uklinux.net/Moon+Venus-081231.jpg)
Canon 5D, 400mm, 1/4 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200. 16:50 UT 31 Dec 2008.

Great shot Brian, you can even see detail on the moon!

Very good image Brian, plenty of detail on the terminator!

Went out this evening, cause I was bored, I tried a few different things with the tripod, but it was cold!

I went out on this frozen lake, I saw people walking on it eariler, but there was a small open water section, so I wasnt sure, but I went out anyway. Just as I was getting comfortable, I hear this noise like it was coming from my stomach, then all the sudden a big POP! I still don't know what it was, but it definately spooked me out lol. Anyway Im suprised after just 2 days how far apart they are now! Here are a couple...

(one thing I forgot to note, look just above Jupiter - you can see a dust spek [actually 3 speks] that somehow got on my Sensor! Im pretty mad about that)
(http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/Tyler_greatsky/CR2-12.jpg)

Im checking Mercury out with the Bino's (its in the drivers side window)

(http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/Tyler_greatsky/CR1-13.jpg)

Does anyone know how much it costs to get your sensor cleaned?

I think you're lucky to be alive, the ice was breaking under you!!!!!

Do it yourself - bottle of Eclipse fluid, packet of sensor wipes (buy the right size for your sensor) .... don't know what other people's experience is but I find I need to clean the sensor on my 5D about once a month. The 40D has a sensor clean action when switched on & off, so far I haven't had to do it.

Hey Brian, there were people across the lake ice fishing though! idk maybe I was on the wrong side of the lake, none the less I wont be doing that again.

Also I read somewhere that if you arent careful you can ruin your camera, so I have been too cautious and thought I need to bring it to a pro

EDIT: the ice sounded similar to this... (watch vid)

http://www.vimeo.com/139013

Great shots, Tyler  :)

Here in Poltava there are many people who are fans of extreme winter fishing  ;D - just few days after the thin ice arrives on the Vorskla river - they are already sitting on it - almost everywhere!  ;D
 I don't risk to step on the river ice when it's thinner than 7...10cm (3...4"). But now the ice is certainly thicker, so it is no problem to walk across the river. Exactly a year ago I saw a man which was riding a bicycle on the river ice!  ;D Not simply saw him - I have captured that with a camera lol.
(http://i020.radikal.ru/0901/7b/57b18f1ec6d4.jpg)
P.S. Excuse me for the offtopic  ;)

Great shots guys!

I think this might be the last I see of Jupiter for the time being....

(http://paulni.co.uk/images/mercjup090106.jpg)

(http://paulni.co.uk/images/mercjup090106a.jpg)

Here's one I got of Mercury from my front garden, Jupiter was too low!
(http://i42.tinypic.com/2v7y043.jpg)

Great shots guys!

Tyler, I love the image with the car, I think it's very eye catching and creative!. Close call with the ice!

Roman, that looks crazy lol.

Seen Venus and Mercury tonight but could not pick up Jupiter. Brilliant sky though with some great post-sunset patchy clouds. Paul, that was good going catching both. John you got Mercury very brightly. I was surprised how low Merc was this evening.