#1  
Old 11-04-2020, 06:28 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
Morning Planets

I viewed Jupiter, Saturn and Mars high up this morning in a line of about 10 degrees. It appeared somewhat like an oversized Belt of Orion. Mercury was near the horizon. Good to see that they are back.

Mars is showing its gibbious shape with my Vixed 81mm ED at 90x. Its nice to have a light scope at that time of the morning!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-04-2020, 07:56 AM
Tinderboxsky's Avatar
Tinderboxsky (Steve)
I can see clearly now ...

Tinderboxsky is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Kingston TAS
Posts: 1,031
I am also enjoying these early morning views and watching the planet’s ever changing positions.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 30-03-2022, 09:15 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
Venus, the Crescent Moon and low Jupiter made a nice, wide, bright trio around 5.20am this morning. They should also look good tomorrow.

A closer trio was Venus and Saturn with Mars just above.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 30-03-2022, 09:50 AM
Tinderboxsky's Avatar
Tinderboxsky (Steve)
I can see clearly now ...

Tinderboxsky is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Kingston TAS
Posts: 1,031
Nice. The next month or so holds some real treats. I am looking forward to observing the close conjunctions coming up.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Tropo-Bob View Post
Venus, the Crescent Moon and low Jupiter made a nice, wide, bright trio around 5.20am this morning. They should also look good tomorrow.

A closer trio was Venus and Saturn with Mars just above.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 30-03-2022, 02:22 PM
leon's Avatar
leon
Registered User

leon is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Warrnambool
Posts: 12,430
It certainly is a view to behold especially on a nice early clear morning.

leon
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 31-03-2022, 07:57 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
I had another peep this morning. The Moon made an interesting sight with its thin crescent and abundant earthshine being apparent even though the nearby sky was quite pinkish.

The Moon was below Jupiter (I was expecting it to still be above) and I was thrilled, as I rarely see it in the morning sky when it is less than 35 hours before New Moon.

I also noticed relevant movement in the above trio of planets. This will continue and on the 5th and 6th of April; Mars and Saturn will be only half a degree apart. Worth watching!
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 31-03-2022, 08:07 AM
N1 (Mirko)
Registered User

N1 is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Dunners Nu Zulland
Posts: 1,662
Saw that too this morning, very neat.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 01-04-2022, 06:14 PM
EpickCrom (Joe)
Epick Crom

EpickCrom is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Perth
Posts: 382
Still cloudy here in Perth but caught the attractive conjunction with Venus, Mars and Saturn this morning with the naked eye through a break in the clouds. A spectacular sight! Mars above, Saturn in the middle and Venus below.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 03-04-2022, 05:56 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
I could see both Mars and Saturn in the same field this morning using 25x and a plossl EP.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 03-04-2022, 02:02 PM
JohnF (John)
Registered User

JohnF is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Nimbin NSW Australia
Posts: 265
I saw it on Stellarium, and told people at my outreach I would be asleep that time of the morning. Had to get up, but trees are east of where I was.

Last edited by RB; 03-04-2022 at 04:24 PM. Reason: Deleted unnecessary info that we don’t want to know about.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 04-04-2022, 03:26 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
And just now, I could see Mars and Saturn in the same field using 40x and a plossl EP.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 05-04-2022, 04:48 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
I have just been viewing Mars and Saturn, which are even closer together than I expected. Using 104x, I could just fit them in the same field when using a Tak ortho EP so I guess that make them about 0.4 of a degree apart.

They make a striking pair. They are both roughly equal in brightness, however the light from the smaller Mars is more intense. The red disc of Mars compared to Saturn's yellow also makes a very interesting color contrast. Furthermore, the round disc of Mars compared to Saturn's oval shape highlights how very different they are in composition.

I also pondered the fact that they are on the far side of the Sun from us and this extra distant helps shrink the apparent separation between the two planets. I guess that closest planetary conjunctions of the outer planets are when they are furthest from us.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 05-04-2022, 06:58 AM
EpickCrom (Joe)
Epick Crom

EpickCrom is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Perth
Posts: 382
Hi Bob, like you I have just been observing the spectacular conjunction between Mars and Saturn. Very striking naked eye, nice red and yellow contrast and similar magnitudes. They were 19' apart when I viewed them, both fitting in the field of view at 171x. I also managed to see comet 22P/ Kopff near Venus. A lovely early morning observations!
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 05-04-2022, 10:56 AM
UniPol's Avatar
UniPol
I Prefer Refractors

UniPol is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Lithgow, NSW
Posts: 1,670
I was up around 5.00 this morning and had a peek in the east and Venus was certainly very bright but Saturn and Mars took the cake being so close together. I was tempted to set up the scope but guess I was just too lazy that time of morning, I had been out last night until late in any case, it was just nice to take in the sight.

Inside I fired up SkySafari on the Ipad and measured the distance between Saturn and Mars on the the distance scale and it changed by the second, literally! I recall it was something like 21' 16.4" separation and the seconds reading changed to 16.2" then 16.1" and so on. Currently, some 6 hours later SkySafari shows a separation of 18' 19.6" then 18' 19.7" and 8.69 AU apart. It appears they are moving apart now. The visual magnitude of Saturn is +0.9 and Mars +1.0
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 06-04-2022, 03:51 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
This morning, Mars and Saturn are still close, but not as close as yesterday.

Mars has been moving Eastward at a greater pace than Saturn and has now replaced Saturn as being closer to both Venus and the dawn horizon.
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 12-04-2022, 08:06 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
Venus is rapidly moving eastward and is outpacing Mars to be near Jupiter. Venus and Jupiter will be impressively close at the end of this month, whereas Mars will not be close with Jupiter till the end of May.

Venus and Mars were close a few weeks back and seeing their relative movement to the East has really cemented in my mind that Venus can move more quickly than Mars.

However, I notice that the Moon joins in the groupings from the 26th to the 28th. That really brings home to me that the Moon is the fastest moving body in our skies. Oh, I know this is apparent motion only, not true speed, and omits meteors, close asteroids, machines, etc.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 19-04-2022, 10:18 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
Today, the morning planets were roughly-evenly-spaced about 10 to 12 degrees apart. Saturn and Mars toped the line, then come the brilliant Venus, which is rapidly on its way to its close encounter with Jupiter.
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 19-04-2022, 08:50 PM
EpickCrom (Joe)
Epick Crom

EpickCrom is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Perth
Posts: 382
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tropo-Bob View Post
Today, the morning planets were roughly-evenly-spaced about 10 to 12 degrees apart. Saturn and Mars toped the line, then come the brilliant Venus, which is rapidly on its way to its close encounter with Jupiter.
I can't wait for the close encounter between Venus and Jupiter. It's on May 1 st and should be spectacular!
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 26-04-2022, 07:41 AM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
Registered User

Tropo-Bob is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
Venus and Jupiter closed to about six degrees apart this morning and were like a supercharged version of Alpha and Beta Centauri.

The Crescent Moon was near Mars and Saturn is now located far higher than the others.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 28-04-2022, 07:42 AM
EpickCrom (Joe)
Epick Crom

EpickCrom is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Perth
Posts: 382
Got up early this morning and observed the Venus/Neptune conjunction. They were seperated by around 5' while I was observing them. Nice contrast between brilliant white Venus and cool blue Neptune. Best view was at 150x with both in the field of view
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 08:25 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement