Morning Planets

[Tropo-Bob]

At 4.30ish this morning, Jupiter and Mars were visible near Alpha Libra. Jupiter is bright, Mars less so. They will be near each other for most of January.

I feel this will be a big year for observing planets with oppositions of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in May, June & July respectively.

The opposition of Mars is the more notable since it will be at its 15-year closest point. I feel that my days of rising early to check them all out are about to begin!

[bigjoe]

Certainly will be Bob..

Dawn on Sunday January 7, 2018 ; view Mars and Jupiter in the Eastern sky, with the red Planet Mars passing only 0.25° south of Jupiter..NOW THATS CLOSE!
And thats only one of the close encounters to happen..and not far from ZUBENELGENUBI!
bigjoe.

[Tropo-Bob]

Zubenelgenubi, Lol, there's a name that I had not heard before.

I had a look this morning with my Ranger using a 7mm Delite EP. What can I say, Mars looked small and its brightness overflowed a little against the black-sky background. I looked again about an hour later during trilight and the disc of Mars was then far more distinct against the brighter background.

Jupiter looked equally good with its two bands on both viewings, although its moons were more prominent earlier. There was a star nearby and a novice could have been forgiven for thinking that he/she had seen five moons.

I saw a bright (Mag 0), little (only went about 3 degrees) meteor when sighting Jupiter, which I though was amazing because I barely looked at the sky when setting up.

[bigjoe]

Zubenelgenubi is a mouthful Bob , but rolls off the tongue.
Its actually Alpha Librae and a very bretty double in only Binos ar 231" separation and primary 3 and secondary 5th mags..Yellow and grey colour contrasts. As here..www.google.com.au/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-samsung&source=android-browser&q=zubenelgenubi&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=fgVHWsGRLozp8wfjyqTADQ#gfe_rd=cr&imgrc=8HBHMsZCzji-OM: and www.deepskywatch.com/Astrosketches/doubles/Alpha-Librae-sketch.html ..rises just befor Antares!
And yes Mars is soo small at the moment, but so much detail will be visible before the middle of next yr..Ive seen clouds on it with a 7 " Maksutov.
bigjoe.

[Tropo-Bob]

I had a look at Jupiter, Mars and Saturn this morning (about 2.30am) with my Vixen ED115S refactor. Finally, this great period of oppositions is about to begin.

Mars is starting to grow in size, but was still too small to see any details at 130x. Saturn was low and the only moon that I could see was Titan. There is still quite a distance (10+ degrees) between Mars and Saturn and it was surprising to think that this will close to within 2 degrees by the end of March.

Jupiter was more striking and as Europa approached its limb, I could see its shadow on the far side of the planet. I like these little exemplars of the 3D nature of our solar system.

With my weather, if may be another month before I see these again.

[Tinderboxsky]

Exciting times. I am looking forward to the procession of Oppositions too.
I hope the weather is not too problematic for you Bob.

[bigjoe]

Steve..
Lets not forget this coming up too...

On APRIL 1st ..2018 MARS passes 21' minutes of arc North of the very bright GLOBULAR M22 , one of the finest and easiest to resolve globulars in the night sky in just about any aperture over 76 mm.*

At magnitude +5.9 and apparent diameter of 24' and Mars at 9 ".
bigjoe.

[Tinderboxsky]

Hi Joe,

Yes, definitely on my list. Did you notice that Mars is closer the next morning, 2nd April and still quite close on the 3rd. On the 2nd and 3rd, Saturn is only 1 deg 40 arc sec from M22 with Mars passing between them. This will be a fine wide FOV sight to observe the relative motions over these days. Weather permitting I will follow these well before and well after the close conjunction.

Mars is in a very rich part of the sky at the moment. There is plenty to see. Between the mornings of 19th Mar and 20th Mar, Mars will pass mid way between the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae. Wider field of course but will be quite a sight in a 2 degree or larger FOV.

[bigjoe]

Indeed Steve..were in for a rare feast this year, with all these celestial occurrences happening within weeks and oppositions for months on end!
bigjoe.

[Saturnine]

Thanks for the reminder guys, was forgetting about the Lagoon, Trifid, Mars conjunction, will be anxiously scanning the weather forecasts for signs of clear skies next Sunday, Monday, Tuesday nights.

[Bombardon]

Inspired by all your comments and by a stroke of luck I was awake at 6 a.m. with darkened sky and adapted eyes and was astounded at the sheer glamour of Mars picking its way through the brilliant starclouds of Sagittarius and all of this through a simple pair of 8X42 binox. I am impressed by the speed of Mars heading west as it catches up on the leisurely Saturn and like you guys look forward to the rewarding conjunctions in the days ahead.
It certainly beats waiting to see if the evening sky settles into dew or mediocre viewing at this time of year. My son caught a great image of Venus last evening with just an iphone camera X10 which I will attempt to post today. I have been getting a window of naked eye views of Venus for about 20 minutes most clear evenings but Mercury has headed back to the sun and is now beyond me. Clear mornings, Eugene

[bigjoe]

Eugene..MARS is screaming along..
Had a look at the GRS last night when I got back home..it was RED and NOT Salmon or Greyish in the 130mm Apo with a 6mm Tak Abbe, which I then Barlowed and straight away noticed the Contrast reduced somewhat..Always the case with 7 elements or more..NO matter what they tell you...will follow up on Corvus...only 2 type 6 and one Delos left because of that...Dual ED 5MM excellent though, with 6 Elements.

bigjoe.

[Bombardon]

Yes, Joe, the planets are booming. Attaching photo of Venus taken at 7.35 EAST from Lennox Head by my son using IPhone camera X10 on 17/03/18
I had difficulty seeing it that early without binox. Young eyes rule!
Regards, Eugene

[Tropo-Bob]

Its been a while since I have seen the sky, so was surprised to have a small break in the clouds this morning. This is in the context of starting yesterday with being woken by a robo call telling me that the nearby Barron River was rising and I need to consider my evaluation plans. (I was not flooded).

Mars and Saturn were about 4 degrees apart and Mars was appreciably brighter than my previous view. Jupiter, however was brilliant, which was a good reminder that opposition is not far way (May 9th).

I considered using a grab & go scope to view, but several lightning flashes across an 80% clouded sky brought me to my senses.

[Tinderboxsky]

Yes, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn are really starting to show the promise of three relatively close Oppositions. Saturn and Mars are traversing some wonderfully rich star fields. I am enjoying these low power, wide angle views - have had to grab whatever is on offer between the clouds.

[Tropo-Bob]

There was a wonderful, low power view this morning with Mars, Saturn & M22 all being in the same field of my Vixen ED 102mm (F6.5) with a 30mm plossl. Mars and Saturn appeared to be about 2 degrees apart.

Mars was more 'egg' shaped than I had every previously seen it. Some markings very vaguely visible at 104x.

M22 appeared more interesting in the moonlight than I expected. The fainter stars within the cluster disappeared leaving only the brighter stars. The appearance was like an incredibly rich open cluster rather than a globular.

[Tinderboxsky]

Excellent. Clouded out here, unfortunately. Hopefully I'll get a view over the next day or so as Mars slips close by M22.

[bigjoe]

Weather doesn't look promising for....
after midnight here in Sydney, APRIL 1st , MARS passes 21' minutes of arc North of the very bright GLOBULAR M22 , one of the finest and easiest to resolve globulars in the night sky..
Ill be ready with some Pan widefields and some Tak Orthos..keeping fingers crossed.
bigjoe.

[Tropo-Bob]

At 5.20am today, Mercury was still prominent in the eastern skies, whereas Jupiter was way over to the west.

Using my new (but secondhand) Vixen ED 81mm, I was able to gain splendid views of both Saturn and Mars at 125x. Both planets are now ideally placed for observation, with Saturn being a little west of the zenith and Mars being barely past the zenith.

Saturn looked lovely and I could see both Titan & Rhea.

Mars has grown appreciably in size, and will double again by it Opposition in late July. I admit to a growing sense of excitement at the thought of watching this grow in the near future and knowing that my weather prospects are now improving (less clouds).

[Tropo-Bob]

I was out looking from 5.30am today. Mars was just past the the zenith, Saturn was near the Moon and Jupiter had set.

Viewing Mars with my Tak FC100D (148x), a pole cap was obvious, as was a very-dark green ring just below it. Again, obviously vegetation growing after receiving water from the melting Pole Cap. :D

Funny now, but I can easily see how these conclusions were once reached.

I did not see much else, just the dusty red disc of the planet. Which had me wondering if I should be using filters, or if there a dust storm happening on Mars?

I let my EQ5 track Mars into the daylight and had my last look at 6.55am. The view then was not better or worse than when the sky was dark.

[Tropo-Bob]

I had a quick look this morning with my Tak FC100D at the Mars, Saturn and the Moon.

Mars is still high in the sky and ideally placed for observation. The polar ice cap was still prominent. Using 148x, I thought it had shrunk a little from last week and the dark band below the cap did not seem as obvious. Other marking did not really show.

Saturn has become too low to see well at 6am and was badly affected by the seeing. I best forget about it as being a morning planet.

The Moon was placed with the straight wall and Plato both being on the terminator. Only the rim of Plato could be seen, as the floor was covered by shadow.

I enjoyed my quick look, especially since I could not observe last night because of clouds.

[Tropo-Bob]

I was out looking at Mars and the Moon at 6.30 this morning with my little Vixen ED81mm

Mars is now well over to the West, only about 30 degrees above the horizon.

Ice at both poles was visible at 125x and some faint markings were visible on the surface. It sounds a little boring, but it wasn't. Mars is now large and bright and just seeing it this big and such an expanse of its orange surface against a twilight sky was quite thrilling.

[Uncle_Martin]

Yep, and still covered by the dust storm. The South Polar Cap is bright again but I could not pick out the North Pole as a cloud hood, save a slight thickening of the limb haze.


I don't use more than a 4mm eyepiece with my Celestron 8" Newtonian usually because of Sydney suburban skies but filters in orange-red improve contrast - marginally.