Venus and Saturn Conjunction - next 4 days

[iceman]

Make sure you look to the West over the next 4 days, as Venus and Saturn are coming up for a very close conjunction.

Saturn will move to within 40" (two-thirds of a degree) of Venus - a very close pairing, making them visible in the same FOV of most telescopes with a low power, widefield eyepiece.

Seeing 2 planets in the eyepiece at one time is a rare event, so make sure you get out and take a look just after Sunset. Venus is the bright evening star and Saturn will be the fainter star to the right.

Over the next 4 days, Saturn will start above and to the right of Venus, and will slowly move down to a closest approach on the evening of July 1st where they will sit almost side by side. In the days following, Saturn will continue to move down past Venus as it disappears from our skies heading towards superior conjunction (passing behind the Sun from our vantage point on Earth).

I look forward to seeing your high-resolution and widefield images of this spectacular event!

Attached is a screenshot from Starry Night Pro showing the pair on the evening of July 1st, 6pm AEST.

[CoombellKid]

Been looking forward to this conjunction, on the 30th they'll both be in the
FOV of my 20mm t5 and on the 1st in the FOV of my 14mm XW. should be
something too see.

regards,CS

[iceman]

My view to the West is not good, thanks to big gum trees. I think i'm going to have to go for a road trip on Sunday night.

Would love to get an image of them both. I think i'll have to use the ToUcam as my DMK doesn't come to focus at prime focus in my newt. Otherwise it'll have to be an afocal shot with my DSLR.

[Dennis]

Hi Mike

Gee - you have an impressive mountain range to the West if that is your location as displayed in the SNP screen capture .....:lol: :lol:

Cheers

Dennis

[Rob_K]

Yeah, they're getting very close. Pic from my place last night:

Cheers -

[janoskiss]

Thanks for the heads up! Will be doing some footpath astronomy (because we don't have sidewalks in Australia) for that one!... weather permitting... of course

[davidpretorius]

a toucam as prime focus will grab it??

awesome!

[Ingo]

Mine's the opposite way...I'll get some pics of it though.

[Marko of Oz]

I'll have a go Sunday night even with 150mph+ jetstream streaking my way. :sadeyes:

[jjjnettie]

I eyeballed them both through the clouds last night thinking that they were getting close.
So thanks for the heads up for tomorrow night.

[iceman]

I took a few pics with the 300mm lens last night, won't get out there tonight but will definitely be out there tomorrow.

[davidpretorius]

beautiful, a guinness, three planets and full moon!!

what else do you need???

[Dennis]

A Meade MaxMount and telescope operator.....?

[Dennis]

We're eyeballing tonight. The phase of Venus is quite stunning; flitting between Saturn and Titan then the Io/Ganymede pairing balanced by the Europa/Callisto pairing with Jupiter in between looks real purdy.

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

We’ve also just seen Tethys (10.4), Dione (10.6) and Rhea (9.9) according to Starry Night Pro. A lovely sight in the Mewlon 180 with a WO SWAN 20mm eyepiece before the house roof occulted the whole lot!

Cheers

Dennis

EDIT: Attached file is a screen capture from SNP

[h0ughy]

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=28767&d=1183206852 my pathetic effort, nothing like yours Dennis, although I don't remember seeing the names up there when I took my shot?

[davewaldo]

Here is my effort from last night. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=231966#post231966

I really enjoyed a quick night of viewing last night. As DavidPretorius said "three planets and the full moon". Tonight should be great too!

[davidpretorius]

a topless maxmount or topless operator.......... not sure which way round it goes!!!!

clear skies here tonight!!!:thumbsup:

[iceman]

It's been cloudy here all day and only now it's starting to clear.. just in time by the looks of it! Fingers crossed.

[jjjnettie]

They look beautiful together tonight.
It could be very romantic, if the other half could drag himself away from the footy.

[davidpretorius]

saw a glimpse, thru clouds and now totally clouded out.

seemed to be a simliar distance to last night

very nice

[iceman]

Clouded out here too :( Only a glimpse of Venus through the clouds but nothing of Saturn.

Did some Sunset photography instead.

[CoombellKid]

Except for the current jet stream we're having a beautiful clear night. The
two are something to look at, I can fit the two in my 14mm XW. Old Jup's
is looking good too, with the four moons in a diamond configuration off one
side. Pitty about the Moon.

regards,CS

[StarLane]

Hi Mike,

I had a look at this tonight around 6pm, just amazing.
Not very often we see two planets in the same field. I was suprised at how bright Venus was even though the Sun is at quite an angle to it, Venus looked like a mini cresent moon.

Cheers.

[loKy]

living on a farm and being away from most of the artificial lights,i have to say that those two planets that you can see at sunset are just fantastic!!inspirational.....

:thumbsup:

[Terry B]

I looked last night as the first clear night in 2 weeks. I could get both planets in the field of my 24.5mm eyepiece on the VC200L. They both boiled in the sky but good to see the banana cresent of Venus. My 9 year old daughter said that Saturn looked like a diamond. Cute description.

[Ric]

I managed a quick viewing through the 16 x 50 binoculars last night, a great sight until the clouds arrived.

Tonight is totally blotted out with clouds.

Hope others are having better luck.

[sheeny]

Here's my humble attempt - shot through the sucker holes! First ever astro photo with the new Oly E-510. Lots to learn!;):thumbsup:

100ASA, f/5.6, 150mm lens. Captured as RAW, processed in PS CS3: exposure +3, tonal curves adjusted to bring out Saturn without burning out Venus.

Al.

[JimmyH155]

Hey, guys, thanks to this thread and IIS forum I was reading yesterday, I had a memorable 40 mins at my scope when I rushed home last nite:D . Dragged out my grab "n go Celestron 90, and there they were. I havent seen Saturn for many years, and even when it was almost on the horizon, I could still make out the rings and see the gap between rings and the planet. I used 12mm Plossl. Fabulous. I stayed glued for 40 mins until tree got in the way - but that was with scope just about horizontal. Venus - well stunning crescent. I shall be out tonight;) :)