Venus and Saturn on January 9th. Image credit: Stellarium
Posted on 01/04/2016 5:44:44 PM PST by BenLurkin
The early morning sky is where the action is this first week of the year. We were out early this Monday morning as skies cleared over Central Florida on our yearly vigil for the Quadrantid meteors. Though only a handful of meteors graced the dawn skies, we were treated to a splendid line-up, including Jupiter, Mars, Spica, Antares, Saturn, Venus, the waning crescent Moon AND a fine binocular view of Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina.
...
Venus and Saturn pass just 5' (that’s 1/6th the diameter of the Full Moon) apart on the morning of Saturday, January 9th. The conjunction (sometimes called an appulse) occurs at around 4:00 Universal Time (UT). This is the second closest conjuction of two naked eye planets for 2016: only the 4' pairing of Jupiter and Venus on August 27th narrowly beats it out for top billing.
The January 9th conjunction occurs 36 degrees west of the Sun in the morning sky: expect the pair to be visible in the dawn low to the east, about two hours prior to sunrise. Venus shines at magnitude -4.0 with a 80% illuminated disk 14" across, while Saturn is nearly a hundred times fainter at magnitude +0.6 with a 15" diameter disk, 36" across if you count the span of its rings.
You'll be able to spy both Saturn and Venus in the same telescopic field of view- ironically, on a Saturday morning - a rare catch. Can you split the two with the unaided eye? We once showed off a similar conjunction of Saturn and Venus to an astrology-minded friend on the morning of August 26th, 2006… we can only hope they came over to the 'light side' of astronomy.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
When does Venus brush past Uranus?
Oh boy. The very first post.
Any images available of this treat?
Sorry. I couldn’t resist. ;)
Venus meets Jupiter on November 22nd, 2065. Image credit: Stellarium
Forecast is for partly cloudy.
I will certainly keep my eyes open for it, but considering NY state’s track record for clear skies for astronomical events, I’m not very optimistic.
Stayed up late last night/ early this morning to watch the meteor shower. Should have gone to bed. It was pretty disappointing.
It seems as if we always have rain here during the meteor shower weeks. :-(
Are we talking a dance off in Fergusen or what?
Her weapons were
Her crystal eyes
Making every man mad
Black as the dark night she was
Got what no-one else had
Wow!
She’s got it
Yeah, baby, she’s got it
Well, I’m your Venus,
I’m your fire, at your desire
Thank you. Thank you very much. Not a bad crowd,
but I’ve had better ....
You can stay up for it, but, closest approach is at 11pm EST.
You ain’t seeing it here. ON the internet, that’s another thing.
It’s gonna be cloudy here anyway :P
We had clear skies, but I live just south of Houston, so the direction I was looking had lots of light pollution, but I hear the showing was poor. I saw about five.
As long as it isn’t Mercury in retrograde. Bad Juju.
Completely overcast, as usual for sky events.
>:(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.