Posted on 11/25/2020 9:54:22 AM PST by ETL
The first image below is pretty much the situation in the night sky now, Nov 25, 2020. Little by little, Jupiter, from our perspective, is inching closer and closer to Saturn.
And by mid-December the two planets will appear to be practically on top of each other, I think both within the space of a full moon!
The 2nd image below is the situation in mid-December (this is NOT a one-day, or even one week, thing).
In fact the two planets are fairly close to each other right now, Nov 25 (first image below).
But in reality, Saturn is actually something like 500 million miles behind Jupiter.
Jupiter by far is the brighter of the two and is to the lower right of Saturn (see diagram).
Meanwhile, in the Western part of the sky, you won't have any problem finding bright yellow-orange Mars tonight, as it will be close to the Moon.
As for tonight's International Space Station pass, that's a bit more complex. But, basically, it will be rising from the south-west US and moving to the northeast, beginning around 5:15pm EST and ending around 5:40PM EST. These are the times for the ENTIRE pass, not for any one particular location. ie, if you're where I am in the New York City, the pass will be from about 5:35PM EST to 5:40PM.
If you're really interested in seeing it, I strongly advise you go to the following website, enter your basic position (several options for that), and get much more accurate info for your location.
Once you've done that, look for "ISS" under Satellites. ISS = International Space Station. ISS appears as a bright white "star" moving across the sky at the apparent rate of a high-flying airplane. There are no blinking or colored lights on ISS, only white (reflected sunlight).
Heavens-Above.com
https://www.heavens-above.com/?
CORRECTION:
I wrote above, “Meanwhile, in the Western part of the sky, you won’t have any problem finding bright yellow-orange Mars tonight, as it will be close to the Moon.”
Make that EASTERN part of the sky (for Mars and the moon).
Jupiter and Saturn will be towards the West.
I hope it stops raining so the clouds will let me see this.
Wonderful pics! Glad to know which shiny objects are the planets and which are the far away stars. I am pretty sure we can’t see planets in other solar systems without powerful telescopes.
Dec. 21st Jupiter & Saturn will be closet together (0.097°), though low in the west. The Next time Jupiter & Saturn come as close or closer together is Christmas Day in the year 2874 (0.039°)!
That is from the Earth, if you somehow can get to Neptune on 4/29/2046, from there Jupiter will actually occult (0.000°) Saturn. If not there’s always Mars 1/9/2080 where they will be 3x closer (0.033°)than they will be on Earth this year.
Way cool, thanks!
Last time I went naked out to the backyard to look at stars, the neighbors called the police on me.
Way cool. I have been using this Space Station App for years. It is very accurate. Many times each month (depending on your location) you can watch ISS travel across the night sky. Enjoy.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.runar.issdetector
So, I have to get naked to see it?....................the neighbors might complain............or not.........
“Don’t look, Ethyl! but it was too late, she’s already been MOONED!”
Thanks... I’ll try to catch the ISS!
Man! Thanks for that - so cool!
When the Moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars...
[[Moon near Mars, Jupiter near Saturn, and Space Station pass, all naked]]
How embarrassing
Expecting a beautiful array, but no ISS visible in AZ tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSr9BbhoJQ
Any excuse to post a video with the lovely Marilyn McCoo.
Awesome! Thank you sir!
bttt
BFLR
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