Wednesday, December 03, 2008

The Conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter


I see lots of pictures around the web of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter when they were recently near each other in the sky. So, I thought, "Why not add my pictures to the mix?" I don't know how it looked on Sunday, November 30, 2008 because it was cloudy here but by Monday, December 1, we had clear skies. I ran out of my office to snap a few pictures just in case the clouds rolled in before I could get home and get my tripod. So, the first picture is a far view of the three object over our office. I found a ladder to rest on but it was not stable and none of my close shots were any good. Look above and to the left of the peak on the front of our office. If you double-click the picture, it should show up full scale.

When I got home, I attached the tripod to my camera but there was a lot of light from cars on the road and the church on our street. Also, we're closer to town and the light from the businesses there drowned out the light a bit. But on the second picture, which is obviously the closer of the two, you can make out the irregularities of the sunlight on the Moon due to the mountains and craters on the moon. The crescent Moon is obvious in the upper left. Near the bottom is Venus and on the right about half-way up is Jupiter. The three brightest objects in the night sky all together as they won't be again (at night) until about 2052. Here's hoping we're all around to see it again!

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