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These last couple of nights, here in England in the dark blue sky of dusk, we've been able to see the crescent Moon, Venus and Jupiter in close proximity. It's a rare event, according to the astronomer on the radio.
My celestial mechanics is weak--was anyone else able to see this magnificent event, or was it a UK thing?
I've never before knowingly seen three celestial objects in the sky so close to Earth and to each other. They have a singular beauty and made Earth somehow feel less alone in space.
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Yeah it's pretty cool. I've been watching Jupiter and Venus move across the sky since Halloween, but I thought Venus was Saturn. I stand corrected. I wish I had a descent telescope right now.
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It was very visible in the northern Canadian skies last night, and it was a very dark sky as we still have no snow. (?)
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One of the writeups I read said you might even be able to make out jupiter's moons - three clustered on one side, one on the other. Maybe you'd need a telescope, I can't recall what the article said about that, but nifty concept.
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Yes, I'm in Arkansas, USA, and I've been watching them move through the sky for several nights now. Posts: 357 | Registered: Feb 2007
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You should be able to make out Jupiter's moons with a half decent pair of binoculars, although you would probably need to stabilize them on a fence so the image doesn't bounce around to much.
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I got a few picures on the evening of the 1st, but the moon was past Venus by that time - the UK got the occultation, which I have seen once before.
There's a picture of the crescent moon on my blog, which I'm quite pleased with (click on it for a larger version). I may post up one with Venus and Jupiter; I'd hoped to get them all three descending over downtown LA, but the fog intervened.
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Planetary occultations are uncommon events, but not necessarily rare. That's why they're a notable phenonema in astronomy and astrology, occultations involving the moon, too. Eclipses are occultations, but in the case of moon-earth eclipses, they're viewed from a different perspective. One of the rarest celestial events is when all the planets align somewhat closely, not necessarily on a straight line but on the same side of the sun--nine-body occultations, or syzgy if more than three bodies within the same gravitional system align--which last occurred imperfectly on March 10th, 1982.
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I remember well the syzygy of 1982. There were all kinds of predictions about the coming apocolypse. Even some (pseudo)scientists got in on the fun predicting that all of the planets' gravities on one side of the sun would tear it apart. We're still here. Whew!
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That 1982 event happened on my birthday and all my grade-school friends were convinced the world was going to end on my birthday. How wonderful. Posts: 1911 | Registered: Mar 2007
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In astrology, conjunctions typically magnify the influence of the celestial bodies involved and the houses of the Zodiac they fall in. The event was visible worldwide at night with Mercury and Venus visible before setting right after sunset. The planets were all on the same side of the sun as the Earth. What mystical significance, total chaos, with the Earthly influences of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto--the latter three not naked-eye visible--spread across the late winter Zodiac in disharmony.
Oh, and the recent conjunction of Venus, Selene, and Jupiter is the superior conjunction of the witch's moon. Venus' sparkle crossing the crescent of the moon with Jupiter's glint looking on. It's a common motif in esoteric jewelry. It's a magical moment for witchcraft, powerful mojo, if not a magical sight to behold.
[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited December 04, 2008).]
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I have also been able to see them here in White Sands Missile Range Nm. I wish my telescope was working for I would love to see them closer, but I got drunk one night and broke it. Oh well such is life.
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