John Griffiths Astro Pages

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1st DECEMBER  - LOOK LOW  DOWN IN THE SOUTHWEST AFTER SUNSET FOR A SUPERB CONJUNCTION OF JUPITER, VENUS AND THE CRESCENT MOON

 

The motion of the Moon and the planets against the background stars sometimes produces wonderful sights in the sky. One such event occurs on Monday evening, 1 December 2008. Looking low down in the SW after sunset look for the crescent Moon, the very bright Venus and the slightly fainter Jupiter, all very close to each other.

Try taking a photograph of the wonderful trio of celestial objects!

 

These three diagrams show the position of the trio at 16:20, 17:20 and 18:20 GMT

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Event times are for London.

 

 

 

 

                         16:20 GMT                                                17:20 GMT                                                18:20 GMT

 

There is also another interesting phenomena taking place. But you will ideally need a pair of binoculars to see it. Beginning at 15:46 (which is just before sunset), the Moon’s motion takes it across Venus and we get what is called an occultation. Venus will disappear behind the dark side of the Moon, and will re-appear at the light side at 17:16. So if you do not see Venus well after sunset (and it is very bright indeed) then that is due to it being behind the Moon. Wonderful stuff! Below is a diagram of what the occultation might look like through a small telescope (Note: Venus has phases like the Moon, first noticed by Galileo, nearly 400 years ago).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All diagrams prepared using SkyMap Pro 11 software.

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The Moon

Dec 2008