Conjunction: Mars, Mercury and Jupiter (Dec 10/11/12)
Just starting a thread for the discussion of the upcoming conjunction of Mars, Mercury and Jupiter on December 10th 2006, and providing good views for 2 days following.
It'll be in the Eastern sky just before sunrise, and will make a great view in a widefield telescope or binoculars.
A great opportunity for astrophotographers as well as a spectacular visual sight.
I haven't worked out where i'll be or what i'll do yet, but I'll definitely be looking to photograph it - somewhere with a nice easterly horizon with foreground interest for widefield photography
No houghy, not nobby's beach - damn wind and cloud!
More info about upcoming events can be found in the Calendar and the next 5 events are listed on the left
Just starting a thread for the discussion of the upcoming conjunction of Mars, Mercury and Jupiter on December 10th 2006, and providing good views for 2 days following.
It'll be in the Eastern sky just before sunrise, and will make a great view in a widefield telescope or binoculars.
A great opportunity for astrophotographers as well as a spectacular visual sight.
I haven't worked out where i'll be or what i'll do yet, but I'll definitely be looking to photograph it - somewhere with a nice easterly horizon with foreground interest for widefield photography
No houghy, not nobby's beach - damn wind and cloud!
More info about upcoming events can be found in the Calendar and the next 5 events are listed on the left
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no mike i was going to suggest Mount sugarloaf that looks over Newcastle and lake MacQuarie At least I have a hunk of glass to capture the event, now just some clear skies
Man it's going to be tough to see much.. they'll only be 10° above the horizon when the sun rises at 5:37am AEDST, and at 5:00am they'll be only 2° altitude.
Definitely not a telescope view or imaging opportunity.. more like widefield, long focal length lens on the camera.
My astro soft puts 11/12/06 at it's closest, so for visual observers you
should be able to fit all three into a low power widefield ep. The chart
I posted is for 4am on the 11th with Mercury about 5 degree above the
horizon. Should be a nice view to take in as the day dawns.
regards,CS sunny days
Rob
PS: Ooop's forgot to mention, add an hour for daylight savings
Last edited by CoombellKid; 09-12-2006 at 07:37 AM.
It was cloudy when I woke up this morning at 4am, but I decided to try my luck and went out to the Entrance for the show.
The sky was fairly clear out there, but a layer of cloud on the horizon, plus lots of haze meant I didn't see the planets at all. I should've taken my binoculars, I might've been able to pick them up with more magnification than 1x.
Anyway got some nice sunrise shots at the Entrance ocean baths Some small consolation.
Woke up at 3:00am to pack the photo tripod, Pentax DSLR and WO 80mm for a 20km drive to the bayside. Looked out the window - wall to wall clouds, so went back to bed. Oh well, there is always tomorrow, next year, another lifetime.
Wise choice Dennis - I'm stuck inside at work for another couple of hours yet so I'll miss it either way this morning, but I do have one of my external cameras (joytick controlled) pointed towards the eastern horizon ... all I can see pretty much is clouds all across the eastern sky. There is a faint crack just above the horizon, ironically right where the sun is going to rise, but apart from that .... chunky grey photon shields!
Found a good ish spot and ventured out with my Dad early hours. Parents are visiting us from the UK so this was a memorable night for him! The first time he had seen Saturn.
Low cloud bank prevented any photography but sighted through the 25mm ep of the 4" Mak and a cursary shot to say we were there. Better views through the Bins! Only managed Jup and Mercury together through the scope (JUST couldnt get all three but not far off). Beautiful sunrise shots though and ended with bacon sandwiches an d a coffee on the beach. A perfect start to the day.