Surprise view of the Jupiter and Venus conjunction

[Stu]

I wasn’t expecting any views tonight, but I noticed it had cleared around 6.15pm, so popped out to have a gander. It looked quite promising so I put the Tak out with 24mm giving 2.2 degrees at x30. Both planets fitted comfortably in the fov and Jupiter’s moons were nicely resolved.

Switching up to a 17.5mm Morpheus was better. Still comfortably within the 1.8 degree fov, but now Venus phase was clearer and detail was visible on Jupiter, more than just two belts, and it looked great with the moons positioned one and three either side. Interestingly I tried the 17mm Nagler but in this instance the Morpheus showed more detail on Jupiter and less CA.

Interesting to compare the relative size of the planets, Jupiter noticeably bigger at 34.1” vs 12.3 for Venus.

One other thing, I’m always surprised just how far apart they still were to the naked eye, despite being under one degree.

I was very pleased to catch this event as the forecast had looked pretty poor. They are still close tomorrow in case you missed it tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stu]

More lovely views here tonight, through the 130mm this time.