Venus, Mars and Jupiter in October/November 2015

[stevend]

A little early but a heads up on the potential for some great planetary viewing next month.

These will be putting on quite a show from early October through to early November with an old Moon as an occasional witness. Put simply Venus is falling, Jupiter is rising with Mars between them.

Venue: Eastern skies close to Leo before dawn.

9th Oct: Venus, Moon, Mars and Jupiter will be in a little group.

17th Oct; the Moon has now left but there is a conjunction of Jupiter and Mars.

26th Oct; Jupiter now gets up close to Venus

28th Oct; the 3 planets are at their closest as a group

3rd Nov; it is the turn of Venus to greet Mars.

6th/7th Nov; the return of the Moon to the happy party.

A really nice grouping in the Eastern skies.

[ronl]

Thank's for the heads up, the only thing now is to keep our fingers crossed

for good weather, we might get one or two, if we are lucky.

[laudropb]

Thanks. All I need is the elusive clear sky.

[Stub Mandrel]

Around the 12th Mercury will be hanging around the fringes of the party as well.

[Pete Presland]

Do love an early morning event even more than an evening event. I think its the peace and quite that makes it all the better.

[rockystar]

Will I be able to see all 3 in the same field of view though a scope? Or are they not that close

[stevend]

Will I be able to see all 3 in the same field of view though a scope? Or are they not that close

No. I think they will be about 3 degrees apart.

[Stub Mandrel]

135mm lens on a DSLR ought to frame the three nicely on 28th Oct, fighting chance of getting four planets in a 28mm FOV on the 12th.

[christhebrit]

Cheers for the notice.

[egris]

I will be setting my alarm clock a few extra times this month. Clear skies!

Here is a link:-

http://freestarcharts.com/19-news-and-current-events/444-the-planets-this-month-october-2015

[Grotemobile]

Thanks for that link.

Very good.

Steve.

[Stub Mandrel]

All three planets very clear before dawn, I could just make out Jupiter as a pin-[removed word] dot at about ten to seven this morning, venus was still a brilliant spark.

[Stub Mandrel]

All three planets very clear before dawn, I could just make out Jupiter as a pin-[removed word] dot at about ten to seven this morning, venus was still a brilliant spark.

LOL! I've been Bowdlerised

[Tyson M]

I have never had a good morning observing session. I tried once but cloudy skies prohibited it. I think I should try again here this month.  

[Scooot]

A camera & 200mm lens should frame them nicely

[Special K]

Had a good session on the morning of the 8th when the Moon was still west of Venus. Really beautiful sights indeed! It was easy to pan between objects using the Equitorial mount. Venus is noticeably progressing lower in the sky. Looked absolutely fantastic with the UHC filter at 171x. Mars is low and much further away from us than it can be so only a reddish disk could be made out. Jupiter was even lower but as a first look of the season how refreshing to see the 4 moons orbit this interesting world. First time with the 7mm Nag looked quite nice! 85x makes it a nice size for when the seeing and altitude are not great. That's gonna look good in the Barlow this winter

Now on the morning of the 9th the Moon had glided well beyond Venus but presented a wonderful arrangement across the eastern sky shown in Scoot's diagram.

[davidmclifton]

I have been watching the same procession - absolutely beautiful in the mornings. Got hit with fog today though.

[Dazzyt66]

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?/topic/254835-I-have-definitely-got-the-bug%2E%2E%2E/page__view__findpost__p__2780106

Posted this on beginners....

Dazzyt

FirstScope (soon to be Skyliner 200p)

[PapaEmeritusIII]

Complete novice (and night owl!), anybody know roughly the best times to head out and catch the show? Only looked at the moon so far and planets are the objects I'm particularly interested in observing.

Thanks

Rob

[dweller25]

Had the scope out this morning (15th October) to have a look.

Venus showed a definite phase.

Mars showed a nice light orange disk with an obvious white polar region

Jupiter showed two equatorial belts with a hint of features in them

Much more to come as Jupiter and Mars climb higher in the sky and get closer to the Earth.........

[Dazzyt66]

Rob, I got a good view of Venus (phase) Mars and Jupiter (with moons) around 5.30am the other morning (nice clear skies). I tend to go out between 3am and 4am at the mo to see them rise. Although be prepared for cold and wetness (dew)!

http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

Is a great monthly download of what you can see and where.

Clear Skies!!

Dazzyt

FirstScope (soon to be Skyliner 200p)

[rockystar]

Rob, about 5:30-6 is the best time, just before the sun comes up. You'll need a good clear view of the eastern horizon if you want to catch Mercury - I've not managed it yet, but had some great views of the other 3; Venus is sitting nice an high & Jupiter just comes over the houses at this time. I think the crescent moon is on its way this weekend too.

[PapaEmeritusIII]

Thanks guys, i did have a quick look out around 5:30 this morning but it was far too cloudy over my neck of the woods. House sitting for my parents tonight and have got the scope with me so it'll be clear in a few hours time, sods law. Although viewing isn't looking great as we speak here.

[Dazzyt66]

Yep, total cloud here too. Boooooooooooooo!! [emoji22]

Dazzyt

FirstScope (soon to be Skyliner 200p)

[PapaEmeritusIII]

Yep, total cloud here too. Boooooooooooooo!! [emoji22]

Dazzyt

FirstScope (soon to be Skyliner 200p)

Second morning on the bounce the alarm went off for 5 am and I was greeted to even more cloud cover this morning. Getting impatient for my first glimpse of these three now. Third time lucky in the morning hopefully, although forecasts are predicting a trifecta.