Quick! Look up!

[wedeliver]

Did anyone notice Venus and Jupiter and that nice moon tonight? 'bout another hour then the positions will have changed and the moon will have set. but a beautiful view..

Tonight is Sunday, Nov 30 2008

Tonight’s the night! As seen from North America, the planets Venus and Jupiter – the two brightest points of light in all the heavens – will be in conjunction in your early evening sky. This pair of planets will shine rather low in the southwest, to the upper left of the thin waxing crescent moon.

The scene will be beautiful. It’s not to be missed, assuming you have a sky that is free of autumn cloudiness. Just be sure to catch the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter at dusk or early evening, because they’ll set by mid-evening.

What’s all the hullabaloo about the word conjunction? Generally speaking, conjunction refers to two celestial bodies pairing up close together on the sky’s dome. More specifically, conjunction means that two heavenly bodies – such as Venus and Jupiter – are north and south of one another on the imaginary celestial sphere surrounding Earth.

Since ancient times, astronomers have imagined the heavenly ceiling as a fixed sphere of stars. The Earth’s equator projected onto this fictitious stellar sphere is called the celestial equator. The Earth’s north and south poles projected onto the stellar sphere are called the north and south celestial poles, respectively. Any half-circle running from the north to the south celestial pole is an arc of right ascension. Right ascension on the sky’s dome is the equivalent of longitude here on Earth.

When Venus passes to the south of Jupiter at 7 p.m. Central Time, these planets will be in conjunction and on the same arc of right ascension. That is our modern interpretation of this event. It’s also fun to contemplate how ancient stargazers might have interpreted the coming together of two such brilliant planets, plus the moon! Whatever you do, don’t miss this beautiful sky scene.


http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching/ven ... ovember-30

[motskyroonmatick]

Fog here. Shucks!!

[ygmir]

very cool here. I can see mt. diablo, in the bay area from here, so, have a great s w view......thanks for the heads up........

[Barbie]

I've been watching for a couple days from my porch... It gets dark in about 20 minutes and we have a clear evening soooooo I'll look again tonight.....

[theCryptofishist]

I saw them. I guessed Jupiter but thought the other might be Saturn or Mars (they were visibly farther from the sun than the moon.) Really something.

[BAS]

It was snowing all afternoon, evening, and night here... (Almost none of it sticking, though.)

[bigbluedoggy]

Been keeping an eye on Jupiter and Venus for the last few nights watching them get closer! Was really wonderful to see the Moon next to them tonite! Spectacular out at my place in the desert!!

[LeChatNoir]

Cloudy here tonight... Will check tomorrow.

I've been wathcing them get closer over the past few days.

[BAS]

Darn it all-- it looks like it will be overcast until after Jupiter and Venus collide with the Moon! (er, that is what you're talking about, isn't it?)

[Rabbi Dali Rick]

is that what that was...

it was so big and bright out here i thought it was a ufo....






the rebbi

[Thecatman]

Looked good tonight too! Right now at 19:50 (7:50) its pretty much set. This won't happen again until sometime next fall and then it will be several years before we can see it again.

[Thecatman]

Anybody remember around 1981 or so when all nine planets were aligned in the same quadrent of the sun? There was supposed to be earthquakes, vocanic eruptions and other catasrophies world wide. Never hapened! Maybe on the other eight planets something happpened.

[theCryptofishist]

Yeah, I remember that. More milleniarianism. What a load of crap.

[oneeyeddick]

Talk to me about it in 2013

[Barbie]

Last night was really amazing- Just as the sun was setting the sky was purple, pink, green, blue and the moon was a silver sliver next to the planets, that were the first to show up in the sky.

[Barbie]

WOW Its really nice tonight also.... last week they (planets) were straight up and down- tonight they are sideways...