Posted on 06/26/2015 7:06:32 PM PDT by ETL
Look up, and somewhere in the western portion of the sky right now, or anytime in the next several weeks, an hour or so after sunset, and you'll see two very bright "star-like" objects. The brighter of the two (by a lot) is Venus, the other Jupiter. Venus, slightly smaller than Earth is currently about 51 million miles away. Jupiter, roughly 12 Earth diameters across, 560 million.
I used to catch it a lot a few years ago during daylight hours when I was active with my scope. It's actually the best time to see its various phases. It goes through a series of phases much like the moon does. But at night it glares too brightly to make out the phases, even with a telescope. During the day, as you said, it's comparatively faint. Perfect for observing the phases, IF you know how to find it. I usually find it first through binocs, then move the more powerful scope to it.
Looking at the conjunction now. Hasn’t happened like this for 2000 years. The Star of Bethlehem.
Raining here in New York City.
In any case, it should be about the same tomorrow and the next few days or so.
Thunderstorms in DFW. Darn, but at least we were able to see the space station fly by last week.
Sorry about your less-than-optimal viewing opportunity. Definitely worth looking for in the next few days. It is mesmerizing.
We saw it here tonight in Wisconsin. It was an awesome sight.
Thanks for the tips!
The Star of Bethlehem is exactly correct.
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