Conjunction of a Lifetime

[strongmanmike]

Three life long friends observing the spectacular Jupiter-Venus planetary conjunction of a lifetime on Wednesday 1 July 2015 from a suburban backyard in Canberra Australia. The two planets were so close in the sky that they sat comfortably together in the field at 135X magnification! Seeing the cloud belts and moons of Jupiter in the same field of view as a beautifully crisp crescent Venus and with such clarity, was utterly magnificent!

First image: L to R: Paul Oliver, Michael Sidonio, Attila Horvath

Other two are lill'ol me :D

Mike
Photo's taken by Paul Oliver

[Tinderboxsky]

The joys of visual astronomy. It was indeed a magnificent sight.

Cheers

Steve

[LewisM]

Ahhhhh, at least Attila used a REAL telescope :P

[strongmanmike]

I know but it wasn't a Tak :sadeyes:...but it was a Vixen (I think?)..close :)

[doppler]

It was one of those rare moments when visual trumped photograpic.

[LewisM]

I would hazard guess it was a Unitron, Polrex or Royal Astro. MAYBE a Carton

[strongmanmike]

According to Attila, the refractor is a combination built telescope with a Vixen or Towa lense. This lens was hand picked by Arthur Geddes and it was his telescope originally.

Mike