We are having an incredible wind storm, and it woke me up. So I’m in my office surfing, and see that Venus and Jupiter are very close together in the sky this (Friday) morning. This is called a conjunction, and it’s something of an illusion: Venus is much closer to Earth than Jupiter, but in the cosmic dance of the planets, they happen to line up in the sky.
If you happen to read this before dawn on Friday (it’s hours away Mountain time as I write this), face East and look low to the horizon. They should be obvious enough: they are the third and fourth brightest objects in the sky (after the Sun and Moon).
Conjunctions are pretty, so if you happen to be up, check out this sparkling pair.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:02 am
Just FYI Venus and Jupiter will be a bit farther apart on monday the 4th , but the moon will be right near them as well. IT should be really pretty. I had everything ready to photograph this mornings event but it was cloudy so no luck.
This can be photographed with a normal camera on a tripod. (Or if you are crazy like me a 4×5 large format camera). You may wish to bracket your exposures a bit.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:17 am
Unfortunately I won’t be able to see it here. Even if it wasn’t cloudy and raining, we’re surrounded by 4,000 foot mountains in a deep valley. Low to the East is behind those mountains.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:04 am
We’re having really bad wind here too. Must be all those baked beans… ;o)
I think it’s perfectly obvious that the high winds are because the combined gravitational effect of Jupiter and Venus being so close together in the sky is having an adverse effect on our weather patterns. We’re dooooooooooooomed!
February 1st, 2008 at 3:13 am
Why do I hear someone shouting: “Told you so! This is the direct effect of the passage of the 2007 TU24 through our magnetosphere. yada yada yada” LOL
February 1st, 2008 at 4:03 am
As soon as I read this (5am Central), I turned off my light, ran to the east-facing window, and promptly saw from the light of Nearby Town that it is indeed cloudy here.
February 1st, 2008 at 4:28 am
Ugh! Rain!
February 1st, 2008 at 4:30 am
I have a great view of them. I wondered if that was the giant planet next to Venus. Really neat to see the two brightest planets side by side. Too bad my telescope isn’t with me.
February 1st, 2008 at 4:46 am
Wow, the effects of 2007 TU24 *are* far-reaching. Now it’s causing planets to line up!
February 1st, 2008 at 4:55 am
I specifically got up this morning to see them but the weather sucks here and i couldn’t see anything. I only started to become interested in atronomy very recently and bought a telescope and this would have been the first time i saw jupiter though it but alas i was thwated
February 1st, 2008 at 5:27 am
I live in Oregon and it’s raining so no sky watching for me.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:28 am
Yeah, the 3rd an 4th brightest objects in the sky over Edinburgh this morning were both snowflakes…
February 1st, 2008 at 5:52 am
The Chicago area is buried in snow, most schools are closed. Oh well, yet another thing that we are going to miss this winter because of snow or clouds. I think that I have seen the moon once or twice since November…
February 1st, 2008 at 6:53 am
We’re having an ongoing drought here in the SE US, and this morning I awoke to the sweet sound of rain on the roof. Needless to say the coulds were obscuring the conjunction. We’re supposedly going to have clear weather Monday morning, so I suppose I’ll get a good photo then.
Glad you got to see it, thought Phil. I wonder what astrologists are soothsaying because of this event. Maybe something like “book sales will prosper, long journey with many stop ahead” or something like that?
February 1st, 2008 at 6:55 am
According to what I see on Planet Finder, both Sunday morning and Monday morning should be spectacular.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:56 am
The nice thing about conjunctions is that they take a while. I enjoyed the view yesterday on my way to work when the sky was crystal clear. Very beautiful sight! Too bad it’s raining today
February 1st, 2008 at 8:07 am
Arggh! I didn’t read this until 4pm my time. But it’s been raining since last night anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
Maybe we’ll get to see something before the weekend is over.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:37 am
Actually, I didn’t see it. I was back asleep before they rose.
However, I have to get up quite early tomorrow for an appointment, so I’ll still get to see them pretty close together.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:46 am
Where have you been BA? They’ve been fairly close for weeks- and now the crescent moon is coming in close to them. It’s been great though. Yesterday (Thursday) morning on the way to work they were very bright. We’ve enjoyed some pretty clear skies on the East Coast lately. Except for this morning.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:46 am
I saw Venus and Jupiter yesterday morning, about 6:45am Eastern. Waning crescent moon was chasing them in the south. I was having a terrible morning (really bad cold), but seeing seeing those two in the predawn glow cheered me up pretty good.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:50 am
I saw them! Didn’t even have to leave my house — they were tangled in tree branches over my neighbor’s roof. It’s pretty cool to stare at those two bright points of light and envision the vast three-dimensional geometry involved in creating the conjunction. Worth getting up at 6 AM for (and then crawling right back into bed!).
February 1st, 2008 at 8:55 am
I saw them Thursday morning here in Houston nice and early. Perfectly clear skies, two bright sparkling objects. Really cool! I think the star chart said Saturn is also visible in the Western sky in the morning. Will have to look for that as soon as all of this rain passes.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:06 am
Don’t worry about the asteroid or the conjunction. Severe winds in Boulder are totally normal this time of year.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:08 am
Steve13, I got my first scope when I was 11 or 12. I will never forget my first look at Jupiter and the 4 moons visible through it. Also Saturn is awesome! It’s one thing to see all the fantastic photos coming from the various probes, but it’s another thing to actually see them for yourself. Even though the pictures are incredible, there is nothing more awe indpiring than actually seeing those small, somewhat fuzzy images through your eyepiece! Enjoy it.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Lots of fine pictures of the conjunction from around the world have already come in to which I link here. Note the different positions of the planets relative to each other in pictures from different times and geographical latitudes: There could actually be a student exercise in that!
February 1st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I was up this morning for PT and they were one of the first things I saw in the sky. The moon was out but hidden and it created the effect that those planets were lighting up our early morning. Very cool.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I got a snap of it with my cheapo digital camera.
http://astrogeek.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/mercury-and-venus-in-the-morning/
February 1st, 2008 at 4:46 pm
[...] writer, skeptic and friend–published about the Venus/Jupiter conjunction today on his blog . Thanks for mentioning [...]
February 1st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Yeah, so after I saw it was cloudy here, I had a dream, where I kept seeing them, about maybe 0.25° apart, then I’d realize, no that’s headlights. D: Then, no there! No, headlights. >:( etc., etc.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Hmmm…. Could that “incredible wind storm” have been caused by the recent close call with TU24?
Hey, don’t laugh. Their website blamed the recent snowstorms in China on the asteroid.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
sd fsdfa sd
Not sure why.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Completely clear skies here in Melbourne on Friday morning. I was up at 5.45 and off for my (fairly) regular 5km before-breakfast walk. Looked towards the lightening horizon & there they both were.
The outward trip is westward so I walked as fast as possible, with frequent looks over the shoulder, to be able to head back east and still see them before it got too light.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Well some like this way, Buy I think you should consider the another side of the toppic too. Thanks