Venus and Neptune Conjunction

[devdusty]

Looked out at  7.00pm tonight. Sky was dark and clear. Venus easily visible in my 10 x 50 binoculars but  Neptune mag.7.6? Not visible.

Chris P

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Quite clear here this morning, very gusty though. What clouds I can see are blowing around a lot. Our of interest does a small brease improve viewing at at? I imagine heavier wind isn't to good??

 

Baz

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Oh my days the moon and Venus look amazing. Only  had a quick look between doing the kids dinner, our dinner, Wasing up and planting herbs 😁 I hope to get a look Neptune shortly. Fingers crossed

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Moon and Venus in my sights. Just need Neptune to make an appearance. Let's get hunting

[Mark at Beaufort]

23 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Moon and Venus in my sights. Just need Neptune to make an appearance. Let's get hunting

Best of luck with your observing and getting Neptune. I have my grab and go Heritage 130P out on an alt/az mount and quickly found Neptune using my TeleVue 8-24mm zoom then switched to the 6mm Ethos.

The Moon and Venus look brilliant tonight but I have to finish because I have a squash match at 7pm.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

9 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Best of luck with your observing and getting Neptune. I have my grab and go Heritage 130P out on an alt/az mount and quickly found Neptune using my TeleVue 8-24mm zoom then switched to the 6mm Ethos.

The Moon and Venus look brilliant tonight but I have to finish because I have a squash match at 7pm.

Thank you Mark. It is impressive how you experienced pros on here can go straight to Neptune. I am going to give it my best shot and hope to locate it. It's a new one for me, at least the crescent moon and if I am not mistaken crescent? Venus look stunning to view if I luck out with Neptune

Enjoy the squash

Baz

 

[bish]

Caught a fleeting glimpse in 15×70 bins. Had to wait until it was dark enough, but the more I waited the lower it sank into murk. Mag 6.95 star close by was not too hard but Neptune on absolute limit in the conditions.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

46 minutes ago, bish said:

Caught a fleeting glimpse in 15×70 bins. Had to wait until it was dark enough, but the more I waited the lower it sank into murk. Mag 6.95 star close by was not too hard but Neptune on absolute limit in the conditions.

That was my problem also. The moon and Venus were stunning but they were so low, just above the neighbours 6ft fence. Neptune  wasn't to be tonight.

Over to Uranus instead

baz

[bish]

42 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

That was my problem also. The moon and Venus were stunning but they were so low, just above the neighbours 6ft fence. Neptune  wasn't to be tonight.

Over to Uranus instead

baz

There are lots of trees surrounding my garden. Good for cutting out any direct street light but not great for planets recently. Had to grab a look between branches! Spent 30  minutes on and off for a fleeting glimpse.

[Stu]

Moon looked lovely tonight didn't it? Very strong earthshine. I got home at 6.15pm and grabbed the Tak and Ercole/Gitzo and setup by 6.30. Venus and Neptune fitted nicely into the field of view with a 24mm Panoptic. Tried high power on Neptune and it showed as a very faint disk, needing a bit of averted vision to see properly.

This is a very bad shot of them, over-exposed to show Neptune.

@Barry-W-Fenner Venus is showing a gibbous phase currently, not a crescent. It is about 74% illuminated. It will gradually start to show a crescent as it gets closer to the sun.

EDIT labelling now corrected, I had marked Phi Aquarii as Venus for some daft reason! I think my pea sized brain automatically thought Venus was the Moon!! 🤣🤣🤣

 

 

[Paul73]

Very nice Stu. I couldn’t quite get Neptune in the 10x50’s but the moon and Venus were stunning.

Paul

[Barry-W-Fenner]

12 hours ago, Stu said:

Moon looked lovely tonight didn't it? Very strong earthshine. I got home at 6.15pm and grabbed the Tak and Ercole/Gitzo and setup by 6.30. Venus and Neptune fitted nicely into the field of view with a 24mm Panoptic. Tried high power on Neptune and it showed as a very faint disk, needing a bit of averted vision to see properly.

This is a very bad shot of them, over-exposed to show Neptune.

@Barry-W-Fenner Venus is showing a gibbous phase currently, not a crescent. It is about 74% illuminated. It will gradually start to show a crescent as it gets closer to the sun.

The moon certainly did look great! Such an amazing site. It was a little wobbly here though. I assume that's down to the slight breeze we have at the moment?

Venus is also starting to look amazing, as you pointed out the gibbous phase is really clear now that she's gaining some height. I have one of the variable polarising filters on order which should arrive soon, I look forward to checking Venus out with that!

There seems to be a very small window in which to see Neptune at the moment, to early and the sky is to bright, to late and its dropped below the horizon. I found something in its rough location but as mentioned above I seem to have a bit of wobble in the eye piece tonight, I couldn't make out of it was possibly a planet or star!

 

[Steve2012]

Last night managed to see Venus and Neptune through my binoculars so I was chuffed 1st time ever seeing Neptune

If clear later will get scope setup to see both .

Steve

[Barry-W-Fenner]

I was hoping to get out tonight and have another look around Venus and Neptune.  Been a busy evening so only just had a look outside, sky full of light cloud, can just about make out the brighter stars, not ideal. Might view the moon for a bit shortly. It looks eerie with light cloud.

 

Baz

[Barry-W-Fenner]

22 hours ago, Stu said:

Moon looked lovely tonight didn't it? Very strong earthshine. I got home at 6.15pm and grabbed the Tak and Ercole/Gitzo and setup by 6.30. Venus and Neptune fitted nicely into the field of view with a 24mm Panoptic. Tried high power on Neptune and it showed as a very faint disk, needing a bit of averted vision to see properly.

This is a very bad shot of them, over-exposed to show Neptune.

@Barry-W-Fenner Venus is showing a gibbous phase currently, not a crescent. It is about 74% illuminated. It will gradually start to show a crescent as it gets closer to the sun.

EDIT labelling now corrected, I had marked Phi Aquarii as Venus for some daft reason! I think my pea sized brain automatically though Venus was the Moon!! 🤣🤣🤣

 

 

Was that pic of the moon taken with any type of filter Stu? If so what did you use, just a moon filter? I really like the white / purple colour it has to it.

 

Baz

[Stu]

22 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Was that pic of the moon taken with any type of filter Stu? If so what did you use, just a moon filter? I really like the white / purple colour it has to it.

 

Baz

I think it was with a Baader Baader Neodymium filter which innormally leave permanently attached to my diagonal.

I confess I was struggling a bit with the colour balance, so wasn't totally happy with it! Glad you like it.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

2 minutes ago, Stu said:

I think it was with a Baader Baader Neodymium filter which innormally leave permanently attached to my diagonal.

I confess I was struggling a bit with the colour balance, so wasn't totally happy with it! Glad you like it.

Well I'm only an amateur but it gets my seal of approval 😁

 

Baz

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Hi all,

Venus and Neptune are still quite close currently, Is there still a possibility of them being visible in the same FOV? Or has that ship sailed.  The sky has been rather poor all week and looking like it might clear up for a view of these two tonight.

 

Regards

 

Baz

[John]

If you use Stellarium you can see exactly where they are and simulate an eyepiece / scope view to see if they will fit into the field of view.

It think that chance has gone apart from binoculars or your finder with the Venus / Neptune conjunction now. Venus moves too fast to stay put for long !

They are a bit over 4 degrees apart now. The widest field with a 200P dob would be around 2.33 degrees with a 2 inch 40mm super wide eyepiece.

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

I viewed this area last night using my Skywatcher 150P - they are no longer in the same FOV. However, if you have not seen Neptune its still a good time to hunt it down. I viewed it with my 6mm Ethos - 125x.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

7 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

I viewed this area last night using my Skywatcher 150P - they are no longer in the same FOV. However, if you have not seen Neptune its still a good time to hunt it down. I viewed it with my 6mm Ethos - 125x.

Thanks for the Heads up Mark. assuming we get a clear sky tonight I will look for these two planets independently. I am still on the hunt for Neptune. And would really like a look at Venus through the Variable polarising filter.

Baz

[Barry-W-Fenner]

14 minutes ago, John said:

If you use Stellarium you can see exactly where they are and simulate an eyepiece / scope view to see if they will fit into the field of view.

It think that chance has gone apart from binoculars or your finder with the Venus / Neptune conjunction now. Venus moves too fast to stay put for long !

They are a bit over 4 degrees apart now. The widest field with a 200P dob would be around 2.33 degrees with a 2 inch 40mm super wide eyepiece.

 

Thanks John, Once again your knowledge is most valued. I hope to one day gain half the knowledge of eye piece capability's that you have! That would be a big help for me understanding what eye piece is best suited for my intended target...

Regards

 

Baz

[Stu]

Yes, the Neptune conjunction has passed until the next opportunity.

I did just notice this in the events calendar, Venus passing through M45 which should be excellent.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

5 hours ago, Stu said:

Yes, the Neptune conjunction has passed until the next opportunity.

I did just notice this in the events calendar, Venus passing through M45 which should be excellent.

Nice one Stu, something else to look forward to.

Baz

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Update, no viewing tonight it would seem. Windy, grey sky and now light rain. Joy...

Baz