No, that's not a reference to camp scifi of the 50s- I'm serious. Starting tonight, a spectacular three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon begins, peaking on December 1st. According to Sky nightly , "At the end of the day, when the horizon is turning red and the zenith is cobalt-blue, step outside and look southwest. You'll see Venus and Jupiter beaming side-by-side through the twilight. Glittering Venus is absolutely brilliant and Jupiter is nearly as bright as Venus. ... Dec. 1st is the best night of all. The now-15% crescent Moon moves in closer to form an isosceles triangle with Venus and Jupiter as opposing vertices. The three brightest objects in the night sky will be gathered so tightly together, you can hide them all behind your thumb held at arm's length.
The celestial triangle will be visible from all parts of the world, even from light-polluted cities. People in New York and Hong Kong will see it just as clearly as astronomers watching from remote mountaintops."
2 comments:
Wow, hope the skies stay clear today so I can catch this celestial happening! Thanks, Joel.
I am pretty good at capturing planetary conjunctions and some other celestial phenomena on "film". I will try to capture this one weather permitting. It will be an opportunity to try out some of the new telephoto lenses I snagged in the last week or so. . .
Post a Comment