New Year's sky show in the west
It's been a month since the great Dec. 1 triple conjunction of the moon, Venus and Jupiter in the western sky. The moon has orbited the Earth once since then, so it's back in the western sky for another rendezvous with Venus.
Look to the west after sunset tonight, and especially tomorrow night - New Year's Eve - for another lovely conjunction of a very slender crescent moon and the brilliant planet Venus. Tonight (Tuesday, Dec. 30) Venus will be high over the southwestern horizon. The moon, just past "new," will stand well below, to the right.
Tomorrow, the moon will have a bit more thickness to it, and it will be right above Venus. (The NASA photo above shows another close conjunction of the moon and Venus, with a different configuration.)
Jupiter is still there, too, but far closer to the horizon now and perhaps lost in the air pollution, twilight or obstructing trees and buildings. If you manage to find it, binoculars may bring out Mercury, which will be close beside Jupiter (from Earth's perspective) tonight and tomorrow night.
Comments
I barely saw Mercury (naked-eye) 4 moon diameters below Jupiter last night starting at 5:25 pm. They were both rather low and it was a little easier to see Mercury at 5:30 pm. There isn't much time to see them each evening before they set (probably less than 1/2 hour).
Posted by: Rich Stein | December 30, 2008 4:07 PM
Thank you for reminding me about Mercury last night. While Jupiter and Mercury are getting too low in the sky to see from my backyard, I was able to see them on the drive home. It was a fantastic sight last night around 5:30 to see Venus, the moon, Jupiter and Mercury in a diagonal to the horizon.
I would have loved to take out my telescope to view Mercury and Jupiter but, as I said before, it is too low in the sky for me to see.
Posted by: Rob | December 31, 2008 9:42 AM
Last night I didn't see Mercury & Jupiter until 5:35 pm when the clouds cleared. Mercury was to the lower left of Jupiter. However, even though they were low, both Mercury & Jupiter were bright enough to see easily. They were bright enough that I could see their reflections in the water of a reservoir in northern Baltimore City.
In the interest of science [:-)], I watched until I could no longer see Mercury (it finally went behind some distant trees). That occured at 6:04 pm when Mercury's apparent altitude was 1.6 degrees.
Posted by: Rich Stein | December 31, 2008 10:33 AM
I would love to hear what you think and what they are saying in sterling about Friday's storm. Looking forward to it.
FR:Too warm, too dry for anything worth mentioning for today. Here's what the boys in Sterling are saying: http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=LWX&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=0&highlight=off Sorry to be AWOL on the winter weather outlook and high winds Wednesday. On vacation, out of town. But zowie, those frigid winds were howling on the Eastern Shore. I will post photos of ice in Sherwood harbor later today.
Posted by: Dakota | December 31, 2008 2:08 PM
I noticed the conjunction of Venus and the moon last night. A neighbor pointed out that it looked like the symbols on the Turkish flag reversed.
More to the point: Today's weather box on Page 2 is another example of how pathetic The Sun's weather report has become. (Except for Frank's periodic notes.) Once again the day's dominant (and predictable) weather factor -- very high winds -- goes unmentioned. Instead of a promotion deal with WJZ-TV and a lot of superfluous weather elsewhere stuff, we need more information that really affects us.
Disclosure note: I'm a retired Sun editor from the "bad old days," which makes me especially bitter.
Posted by: Jim Keat | December 31, 2008 2:08 PM