Am I the only one?

[Naemeth]

Okay, so maybe it's because been over a month since I've seen Venus, or that I've never seen Jupiter with the scope. But whilst I was out last night, coming back from collecting some library books for my dissertation, I spotted two very bright "stars" near the horizon in a diagonal, and the upper one had another star near it, they were so near I wouldn't be able to see from my garden, and I thought to myself, that's not Saturn is it? Saturn has been becoming lower and lower, and I haven't seen it from my garden in about a month due to the various obstructions, and my view facing East is pretty much blocked. I thought they must be planets, or somehow some very bright star that I'd never had the fortune to see.

Somehow, I didn't make the connection, the lower one near the horizon was, yes you guessed it, Venus. The higher one was Jupiter. Of course, as soon as I got home, I checked and was very annoyed because when I went out again, I was greeted by cloud......typical.

On a related note, I really need to find somewhere with unobstructed Easterly views.

Does anyone else have any problem like this, when you're so used to your own observing site that anything you can't see from there is alien to you?

[estwing]

i can't see anything in the west from home, but a great view E,N and partly South..

[Qualia]

Hiya, Neameth, unless you were coming back from the library in the early hours of the morning, I don't think you saw Jupiter or Venus. I've been getting up very early this week to sketch the differing moon positions of Jupiter and I'm beginning around 4am-ish. What might have been spotted could have been the 'Summer Triangle', an asterism made up of Altair, Deneb and Vega, but that may not make a lot of sense because you say you saw these sparklers near the horizon. I'm not too sure what could have been so low down but I have an idea: download Stellarium, it's free and it should help locate what you saw last night.

Great to hear you had a little time free of clouds.

[Naemeth]

Hiya, Neameth, unless you were coming back from the library in the early hours of the morning, I don't think you saw Jupiter or Venus. I've been getting up very early this week to sketch the differing moon positions of Jupiter and I'm beginning around 4am-ish. What might have been spotted could have been the 'Summer Triangle', an asterism made up of Altair, Deneb and Vega, but that may not make a lot of sense because you say you saw these sparklers near the horizon. I'm not too sure what could have been so low down but I have an idea: download Stellarium, it's free and it should help locate what you saw last night.

Great to hear you had a little time free of clouds.

I was coming back from the Library in the early hours

I have Stellarium .

[Qualia]

Then for sure, it was very likely you saw this early morning beauty. I've been following it for the last week or more. You've got Jupiter top, Venus following below and the star to the right is Aldebaran in Taurus. If you are out again at that time, make a line between Venus and Jupiter and call this one step, follow that line another step and you should be able to see Pleiades with ease.

[Naemeth]

Then for sure, it was very likely you saw this early morning beauty. I've been following it for the last week or more. You've got Jupiter top, Venus following below and the star to the right is Aldebaran in Taurus. If you are out again at that time, make a line between Venus and Jupiter and call this one step, follow that line another step and you should be able to see Pleiades with ease.

Weather permitting . I'll also need to find somewhere that has Easterly views...

[Tinker1947]

Just remember, what ever you see in the East will be higher when it gets South.

[Marki]

I'm going to have to wait for autumn to see these lovely sights - my view east ain't great any more (trees at the end of my garden). On the other hand its pretty dark and I could actually make out the Milky Way last night! Usually only ever seen this from out in the countryside, so pretty impressed.

[cotterless45]

Jupiter was up and shining brightly at 2am, more to the NE than E. I packed in about 3am due to the contrast of the background sky being lost at predawn. I needed a few filters to tone down the glare and see the storm belts, nice.

Nick.

[JamesF]

Yup, I saw both Jupiter and Venus before I packed it in last night. Today's been a bit of a struggle and no mistake

James

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I saw both before i packed up last night, around 3.30am. I can only see south and west really, i can see north but theres alot of LP. I can only see the starts off the The Plough, nothing else. i can view east if i set up in the drive way (i did last night for Venus and Jupiter) but i dont like doing that in case of unwanted attention from kids going past etc.

[Naemeth]

Not having easterly views is a major annoyance. I've found something to transport my scope though (so I can walk with it), so I should be able to take it to a better site.

Nick, what filters did you use?

[cantab]

I'm blocked by the house to the east, although not much of the sky is blocked that's not already hopelessly light-polluted. I've yet to see Jupiter this year (and Venus post-transit), though I normally head inside around 2.