Mars n Neptune & Venus n The Moon

[geolindon]

Happy New Year IISers!

Jan 1; Mars n Neptune a little over 1 arc minute apart - the closest planetary conjunction in almost 30 years - Neptune will be just below and left of Mars.

Jan 2; Venus and The Moon close, again on the 31st.

Enjoy, L

[Stonius]

Thanks! I'll look out for it! :-)

[AussieTrooper]

It happens at 5pm on new years day and will not be visible to us. :(
A couple hours later, the two still be very close though.

[geolindon]

It will be a test for me to see/recognise Triton, maybe for you also Markus. Though looking at Ben's discovery list no probs at all for him :eyepop:

[Atmos]

Maybe the clouds will part down in Melbourne for my 12" :)

[geolindon]

Clear skies Colin.

i took a sneak peak tonight from Namadgi NP about 50 km south of Canberra. Cool, still, clear n beaut dark sky, tho i don't think seeing was great (only 5 in the trap.). The planets were clear at 90x fuzzy at 200x and abt 300x however at all those mags there was a fainter body at the right distance for Triton, almost in line with and opposite from Mars. I look foward to checking it's position next year :)

L

[Rob_K]

Looked good last night - separation should be less than 7' in late twilight tonight, pity the closest angular separation is in daylight.

Here's a shot from last night.

Cheers -

[Tinderboxsky]

Good catch Rob and I am pleased to see an image as the pair get close.

I have been outside, with scope on the ready, on both of the last two nights, but it has been totally clouded out. Tonight and tomorrow night look to be just as bad! So I am unlikely to be able to see the conjunction at all.

By the way, it will still be an interesting conjunction on Tuesday evening. Neptune, Mars, Hydor and a fine crescent Moon will be in a line spanning just over 3 degrees.

Steve.

[AussieTrooper]

Only provisional at this stage. According to Norman Falla (who's discovery list is huuuuuuuuuge) it takes about 5 years minimum to get official credit for them.
Bloody pain of a thing to do. I ended up writing my own step by step guide on how to discover asteroids, because it seemed nobody else had written one.

I only sighted Neptune for the first time this year, and that was with binoculars.

What would be the smallest telescope you would need to see Triton?

[geolindon]

good stuff Ben! would you please consider starting a thread/posting. I (and probably others) would be interested in reading your step by step guide, i reckon it'd be a huge buzz to make a discovery - provisional or confirmed. I guess they are like Australia, it was there long before Hartog, Cook et al. so we are documenting them into our knowledge base, still a buzz and useful!

i dunno how small a 'scope could see Triton, its mag 13.5 which i'd bet is brighter than the stuff you've caught (by camera?). probably depends more on darkness/seeing. i looked at the planets last night from Turner in inner Canberra, they had certainly separated and i couldn't see Triton in my 16". Venus and Moon were a very eye catching pairing.

i was clouded out on the 2nd - 'constellation' prize was a most awesome 360 degrees sunset that went on n on :)

L

[Rob_K]

Here's Mars & Neptune from New Years Day, past closest conjunction.

Cheers -

[Tinderboxsky]

Thanks for the post, Rob. I have missed all the action here with persistant cloud.
Steve.

[AussieTrooper]

Lindon,
That pretty much rules me out from seeing Triton. I've only ever looked at Neptune with binoculars. I have only a 114mm reflector, so it's not going to be able to resolve a disc.

I made the discoveries by hiring a remote telescope. Got married last year, so financial circumstances prevented me from renting more telescope time, or buying a better one to use at home.
I will dig up the user guide and start a new thread. It's about a 30 page pdf document, but I'm happy to send it to anyone that is interested.