c_lou Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Get out underneath them the next couple of nights. Venus and Jupiter will be getting closer and closer together in the western sky. Even in modest size binoculars(which I know we all have) you will be able to see the phase of Venus and Jupiter and it's 4 moons dancing around the King of Planets. Culminating on March 15th when the 2 planets are a mere 3 degrees away from each other(10 degrees is about the width of your fist held at arms length). The will be framed nicely in most binocs. Forward shadowing to June 6th, the Venus transit of the Sun. This will be the last chance for any of us to see our Sister planet crossing the face of the sun. The next transit of Venus is something like 186 year away. West coasters will have the best view as the sun will be higher in the sky. For my region of Cheeseland, the last 2 hours before the sun sets is when I can expect to see the transit. Unless it's cloudy, I will be out with the telescope and sun filter(very important...never look at the sun without some sort of filter). I will be set up with a clear view of the western horizon showing as many people as I can. Just thought I would let you all know about some interesting things going on in the sky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Cool. Thanks for the heads up. I showed my son which "stars" Venus and Jupiter were last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Thanks for passing that along Corey. Fairly clear here now, but storms moving in tomorrow through Saturday or Sunday so I will try to look tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adjam5 Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Ohh...a space cadet . Thanks for the heads up. No pun intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 been cloudy here the last few eve...but it's clear tonight ..will try to catch it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Looks cloudy out right now, I'll have to remember to check them out over the next week or so though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bug House Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 I went to check them out last night... really bright! It was to cold to stand still for to long though. Pretty cloudy tonight unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Ended up clouding up here, gonna be crummy weather the next few days. How long will this last in the central part of the country? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_lou Posted March 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Got out with the girls for about an hour. They stayed interested for the whole hour. We started with Venus, hit Jupiter and its 4 visible moons. Next up was Mercury, I think that shocked them the most. It was pretty close to the horizon and didn't look very good, but we got a nice reddish color. Mars was next and looked like a red blob, there was quite a bit of moon light though. We hit up a couple of double stars: polaris, castor, iota cancer, 38 cancer. A few open star clusters, which didn't show as many stars with the moon light. M36, M37, & M38 in Auriga, M44(Beehive Cluster), M35 in Cancer. I can't wait until we some nice dark skies to show off a couple of galaxies and nebulea, expecially the great Orion Nebula. I think that will really knock there socks off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 i'm going to look tonight. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Been noticing how close Venus was to the moon about a week ago. I thought the other big one next to it was Saturn though. I'm going to have to haul out the telescope. My kids like looking at that stuff sometimes, although, I think I'm the biggest nerd when it comes to that stuff. I've always liked looking up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_lou Posted March 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 So my original post was a tad wrong. I was reciting from memory. The Venus transit will occur for us in the US on June 5th and the next transit will be in 2117, not quite 186 years from now. Just didn't want anybody to miss it because of my mis-information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted March 9, 2012 Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 Sat on the porch with my wife the other night looking up, and I kind of wondered how we were going to see the transit in March seeing as it's so high in the sky right now. Guess I read your post wrong. You will have to remind us come June. That's a few days before graduation around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted March 9, 2012 Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 Clearing out here today, will be outside this evening and will be sure to look up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bug House Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Just beatuiful last night and this morning, could see both planets in frame with my 10X50 Bino's. Jupiter (I think) appeared as a bright green crescent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 we have a 10 day period of clear skies in wyoming, and the display has been great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_lou Posted March 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Just beatuiful last night and this morning, could see both planets in frame with my 10X50 Bino's. Jupiter (I think) appeared as a bright green crescent. Venus will be about 60% full. Venus has different phases just like the moon. Jupiter will always be a round disk. You should be able to see 4 points of light around Jupiter. Those would be the 4 biggest moons of Jupiter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 We actually saw 5 the other day; unless that was a star way up to the left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bug House Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Venus will be about 60% full. Venus has different phases just like the moon. Jupiter will always be a round disk. You should be able to see 4 points of light around Jupiter. Those would be the 4 biggest moons of Jupiter. Cool! Thanks! I couldn't quite hold still enough, but I may have made out the moons. I'm going to set them on my tripod tomorrow, overcast tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowhunter97 Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 i was looking and i couldnt see them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperMn106 Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 I was just driving home and wondering what them two stars were that were so close together! Thanks for the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted March 14, 2012 Report Share Posted March 14, 2012 They were nearly touching last night. My daughter and I pulled out the telescope last night. We could actually see cloud formations on Venus, and 4 or 5 red rings on Jupiter. You could actually see how one of the moons moved out of line with the other 3. Mars still looks like an orange gumball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade Posted March 20, 2012 Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 Cool I will keep a Heads Up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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