Posted on 06/29/2015 11:00:09 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
You may have noticed two “bright stars” in the sky shortly after dusk recently.
The two bright spots are actually two of the brightest planets in the night sky: Jupiter & Venus.
Since planets orbit the Sun on the Plane of the Ecliptic, Venus has been visually getting closer to Jupiter in the night sky each day this month. The closest point will be Tuesday evening when both planets will appear on top of each other creating a very bright “star” in the western sky between 8-9pm (Central) June 30th. Astronomers call this overlap a conjunction.
A similar series of even closer conjunctions involving the star of Regulus occurred around 2,000 years ago and many scientists have suggested this was referred to as the”Star of Bethlehem” in Biblical times and recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Conjunctions aren’t rare but the close proximity this year is somewhat more unusual since both planets will only be 1/3 of a degree apart. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at 5newsonline.com ...
I was wonderdering WTH when I looked to the West this eve..
Yeah, I saw it about 5 nights ago. Hope it was the same thing.
Knew one was Venus. Didn’t know that was Jupiter. Thanks.
With a 60 power spotting scope i could see Jupiters moons, 4 visible as faint light specks
You may wish to inform the astronomically interested about this rare phenomenon Tuesday evening and other nearby evenings.
It was spectacular tonight from where I live but tomorrow (Tuesday) is supposed to be awesome.
I have a cheap telescope from CVS. Don’t know if I’ll be able to make out much detail. Says it’s a 50x/100x.
I would think for most people, the problem is not the telescope, but the ambient light (streetlights, house lights, etc.) that blot out the stars and planets.
Viewing some planets optically like Jupiter, Saturn and Venus don’t really require dark skies. Light pollution has little effect on them unless it’s extreme or you’re real close to street lights etc. Stars and deep space objects are much dimmer and do suffer immensely under light polluted skies. Those with larger scopes sometimes use filters in their optical train to filter out some of the harmful light wavelengths such as emitted by mercury vapor lights.
It is amazing how much brighter the stars are way out in the undeveloped countryside.
I recently read a magazine article that said the new LED streetlights are going to reduce light pollution a lot. LA is going in for them in a big way.
Dark rural skies are great. Many kids living in cities have never seen the Milky Way, which is one of the spiral arms of our own galaxy. We often go to a rural site at the 7000’ elevation. It’s spectacular.
LED’s will work but must be shielded to keep the light directed towards the ground, not up.
Millions of lights around cities have created giant light domes which can be seen for hundreds of miles. Lots of light/energy wasted lighting up the atmosphere. Cheap shielding would solve much of the problems which have nearly washed out the night skies in urban areas.
Yes, but you certainly don't need dark skies to see this pair. In fact, it might be difficult to spot them in very dark country skies with so many other stars visible. They should be easily seen from just about anywhere.
For anyone with a pair of large binoculars, say, 10x or higher, you should be able to spot this bright pair even in the daytime —*IF* you know the general area in which to look. Then, if you have a telescope, you can train it on them.
"II) CURSED BIRTH OF PRIAPOS
Aphrodite later and of her own volition had an affair with Zeus, but his jealous wife Hera laid her hands upon the belly of the goddess and cursed their offspring with malformity. Their child was the ugly god Priapos.
Too cloudy tonight to see them. I saw them a few nights ago, and they were gorgeous!
I could see them with my search binoculars last week.
Hope we have good seeing tonight!
Impressive as the Hubbell photographs are, nothing for me is as good as just looking at the stars from an unspoiled vantage point.
During the Northridge quake, there were people in the black slum areas calling 9/11.
They had seen stars for the very first time in their lives, and didn’t know what to make of it.
One of my parents friends was a first responder down there at the time.
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