Bright Conjunction This Weekend

By Chuck McPartlin
If you look on all three mornings, you’ll be able to watch Jupiter move from a position below Venus to one above Venus. Celestial mechanics in action!
The image from Starry Night software is what the view might be like at sunrise on Monday, November 13, when the two will be at their closest. The circle shows the field of view for 10x50 binoculars. Although they may appear to be near each other from our point of view, Venus is actually 153 million miles away, with Jupiter in the background at 595 million miles away.
If the sky is steady, you may spot some of Jupiter’s four large Galilean Moons in binoculars. As the sky brightens, you should be able to see brilliant Venus well into a blue morning sky.
4 Comments
-
-
-
Nov 09, 2017 09:58 AMThat will be very interesting I still have my Sky Masters 15x70 Thank You Chuck...
-
-
-
Nov 09, 2017 10:17 AMThank you, Chuck.
-
-
-
Nov 13, 2017 07:11 AMWell, at least the Monday sunrise was pretty, with the clouds simulating Jupiter's atmosphere as they hid the conjunction.
-
-
-
Nov 14, 2017 06:28 AMFinally in the clear, or at least between some clouds, Tuesday morning.