Jupiter and Venus

[Graeme]

Astronomical heads up! (pun intended!)

Anyone noticed Jupiter and Venus towards SSW at sunset? You can't miss them, they're the two bright ones. They're about 10° apart from each other tonight. As the days pass they will get closer to each other. On Wednesday evening the thinnest crescent, three day old Moon will be in between them. On the 1st March they will be less than 0.5° apart. Not exactly a rare conjunction but a joy to watch nonetheless!

Regards

Graeme

[stuck]

No, missed that tonight but then it has been a solid grey, sorry, 'Yorkshire Blue' sky all day today.

Forecast for tomorrow is a repeat of today's and as for Wednesday, that's likely to have added rain.

In summary, it's unlikely that I'll get to see this conjunction any time soon

Ken

[HansV]

The weather forecast for my region is similar to Ken's, but next week should be better, so perhaps around the 1st of March...

[ChrisGreaves]

Anyone noticed Jupiter and Venus towards SSW at sunset?

I have noticed something low and bright the past few days.
Sadly tonight we are in cloud, preparing for the Extra-special effort being put on by our local weather department.

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Nothing particularly weird that I can see. Thirty mm of rain to fall on frozen ground, gusts up to 100Km/hr.
Same old same old, but of mercifully short duration.
Late Tuesday the whole skedaddle is being hooked on to a jet stream and sent to Yorkshire and the Netherlands, I gather. Bulk Rates. :rubbing hands with glee:
Cheers, Chris

[HansV]

Thanks but no thanks!

[ChrisGreaves]

Thanks but no thanks!

look on the bright side, Hans. If you had a tripod buried in a six-foot snow drift, you'll soon be able to see the top eighteen inches of it!
Cheers, Chris

[stuck]

The weather didn't listen to yesterday's forecast and so instead of a repeat of the thick clouds of yesterday the sun is shining quite brightly through only thin cloud at the moment

I live in hope tomorrow is not rain and drizzle and so I will get to see the crescent moon will be between the two planets after all. I'm no tholding my breath though.

Ken

[stuck]

The clouds have stayed away!

Ken

[HansV]

Oh wow! Great photo. It's still gray and damp here...

[ChrisGreaves]

The clouds have stayed away!

Ken, I have stored a copy of this image in my desktop wallpaper folder, for safekeeping
Lucky you! We still have patchy cloud right now.
Cheers, Chris

[Graeme]

The clouds have stayed away!

Excellent!

And a 2 day old waffer thin Moon too!

Let's hope it's clear tomorrow night too, you can show us how far the Moon moves each day!

[GeoffW]

Lucky you! We still have patchy cloud right now.
Cheers, Chris

You know it's going to be an Indian summer when the forecast is for a patchy cloud.

[ChrisGreaves]

Astronomical heads up! (pun intended!)

I should probably be eating fewer deep-fried potato chips with sweet-and-sour sauce, then the images might be clearer.
It took this just because I could, at eight o'clock at night as I went to the shed to grab the WD-40 can to unscrew the wonky heating element in Maud Tremblett's electric jug.
Perhaps it has nothing to do with chips after all.

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Cheers, Chris

[stuck]

...Let's hope it's clear tomorrow night too...

but I'm not confident.

[Graeme]

I should probably be eating fewer deep-fried potato chips with sweet-and-sour sauce, then the images might be clearer.

Clear enough to see what they are Chris! Nice one. If Maud had called upon your good nature half an hour earlier you would have seen the Moon too.

[ChrisGreaves]

...If Maud had called upon your good nature half an hour earlier you would have seen the Moon too.

If Maud had reappeared in any form at all, I'd have run half-way to the Moon!
It's all the other houses, and their residents, and their lights that spoil it for me. I decided against a set of binoculars after realising how little use I could get out of them.
I do rather wish, though, that more lay-people would look out at dawn and sunset. That is the best time to begin to learn about our local planets, and that can lead to the-planets-at-night, and that can lead to the-stars-at-night.
Cheers, Chris

[stuck]

Solid cloud last night so no picture of the moon between the planets. Only very faint thin cloud tonight, not enough to completely obscure the planets but Jupiter is very faint and the moon is distinctly hazy.

Ken

[Graeme]

Still a capture Ken!

By the time the clouds cleared here, the planets had set.

[ChrisGreaves]

By the time the clouds cleared here, the planets had set.

Good morning Graeme!
When the temperature drops to -20c, give or take, you can be fairly sure that all the clouds will have fallen from the sky!

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far too early. still and all a nice sunset sky.

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Taken through my study window one our later; an excellent shot of some light pollution.

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Than a zoom shot, but my hands were so cold they shook when I rested them against the windows.
Cheers, Chris

[Graeme]

Similarly too late for the crescent Moon sandwich!

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(And not too well focussed!)