All the Planets in one night - Jan 2015

[stevend]

Back in early December I realised that there was a 7-10 window to view all the planets in one night so I bookmarked the SGL calendar. http://stargazerslounge.com/calendar/event/1005-view-all-the-planets-in-12-hours/ The optimum window is still a few days away and there is still a Venus and Mercury conjuction to come. http://stargazerslounge.com/calendar/event/1009-venus-and-mercury-05-deg-apart/

Mercury has long eluded me and I realised that I needed the right view and of course the weather, so when I saw the forecast for Jan 6th/7th I knew an opportunity awaited. In this game you have to grab your chances. The sky was incredibly clear, not a single cloud and cold - I knew this could be the night.

Scope location 1: I start in my son's bedroom (not ideal; the central heating was off and his windows open but there is no other place near home to get the necessary view) and through binoculars found Venus and then suddenly Mercury appeared. It was brief but wonderful to catch at last.

Scope location 2: Bottom of the garden (which has a slope up to the bottom). Easy to pick up Mars, Neptune and Uranus with the binoculars as well.

Scope location 3: The rest of my views would be from the patio, just a couple of big oak trees which give great privacy but also hinder views of the eastern horizon.

I started by looking for Comet Lovejoy Q2 as the full moon rose. A clear core and coma but I had to keep magnification down at 50x for best views. I look forward to about weeks time as it climbs higher and the Moon is no longer interfering. Then I saw Jupiter through a gap in the oak trees which is not possible in the summer. The Galilean moons were easily seen even through 10x50 binoculars.

I was now hoping to view 3 Juno but unfortunately light clouds came in around midnight so I missed it (though I have seen it previously). Off to bed.

Alarm set for 0600 and straight out again. Saturn was clear in the South. What marvelous views justifying an early rise, my reward for bagging all the planets was this view. But wait there is Jupiter and it is now Jan 7th, so time to repeat what Galileo did 405 years ago today.

I love this hobby.

Note: for the night of the 18th/19th January; Both Venus and Mercury and Mars and Neptune are separately very close in the evening. Then the new Moon acts as a marker for Ceres in the morning. So it might be possible to view all the Planets, a comet, dwarf planet and asteroid (3 Juno) in one night.

Thank you for reading.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report, and excellent work!

[Paul73]

Result! All from home too. Congratulations.

I couldn't believe my luck when I woke up and saw that it was clear! I really shouldn't be that excited about seeing them all in one night.

Like the Galaleo angle. Wish that I had known that when looking up at Jupiter. 18/19th dully in the diary.

Paul

[John]

Great report and a good case for having portable equipment I think

I was going to do something similar yesterday but there was just too much cloud to do much more than glimpse comet Lovejoy, Uranus and Jupiter so I packed in. We even got a couple of surprise showers during the evening so it was lucky that my scope was in the greenhouse at that time !

Well done on a great nights viewing - it's motivating just to read about it.

[Vox45]

Woke up at around 2am and just saw on the bathroom floor a glowing white beam .. could it be ?

Yes ! The sky was crystal clear and the moon was high with Jupiter in its trail... Unfortunaly way too cold for me and way to comfy under the blankets ... next time

Kudos to you for braving the cold and for this nice report

[ronl]

Well done, you were lucky with the weather,

by the way, this is not a hobby it's an obsession.

You have just proved that. Clear Sky's.

[stevend]

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

[hgjevans]

Brilliant - glad someone managed it.