jupiter and venus conjunction 2012 how will you cover it?

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straycat

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jupiter and venus conjunction 2012 on the 13th onwards

how will you do it?

i am trying everything from a 20mm lens to a 300mm

also i have been told of a location in the cotswolds thats good regards light pollution.
 
For interesting pictures try taking as soon as they become visible after sunset rather than when completely dark.
A foreground with combinations of interesting silhouettes, people looking up, reflecting water all good.
 
So are they the two really bright things I saw to the west about 7pm on Sunday?
 
The best night should be the 15th March as they will be the closest.
 
straycat said:
it says they will penetrate fog and clous as so bright!
Click to expand...

They didn't here last night... number of visible objects in the night sky: 0 (and that includes after local moonrise at 2311)

I suppose if you count the horizon to horizon cloud there was 1 object visible... and this is in a reasonably dark part of the country where the Milky Way is distinct.
 
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Yeah, they are by far the two brightest objects in the night sky other than the moon at the moment, but they won't cut through cloud, unless its thin cloud. If you think you're looking at them you probably are, you can't miss them really.
 
We've had 100% cloud cover for a few days now, chances of seeing them probably aren't good.

according to the weather chart on the met office we have high pressure over us at the moment but it still isn't pushing the cloud away.
 
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I'm waiting for the 24th-26th myself as the Moon once again comes between the pair, this time with the group closer together in the conjunction than the last 2 weeks pairing.
There's also a cold front sweeping down the country across the Weekend which is going to shift the cloud-covered high pressure and reintroduce some clear-sky visibility behind the front.
So i'm being slightly patient in waiting another week myself.
 
As well as Venus (the brighter of the two) and Jupiter, you can see Mercury low on the horizon at sunset, Mars (the bright orange one over your left shoulder as you look at Venus and Jupiter) and Saturn, which rises at around 9pm.
 
From what I gather it's going to be covered up here almost exclusively by cloud. :(
 
I got them last night as there was no cloud, but the quality was quite disappointing. Only got a 300mm lens...
I saw them about 8pm quite high and by 9.30pm they were almost on the horizon :(
6979809759_283ea7b353.jpg
 
With a 300mm lens and a good crop you might well manage to see jupiter's moons. I can see them and I can just about make out the bands on jupiter with a 20-60 monocular at full zoom. Check the focus on the above pic, it doesn't look like it focussed properly as both discs are the same size and fuzzy.

I was doing a bit of research on my virtual planetarium program the other day and in a few months it looks like Venus is going to move into the Pleiades one night. It will also have become a crescent phase by then making it easiest to observe and dazzlingly bright. I'll see if I can calculate the exact date and say when.

Venus will also transit the sun this year I believe.
 
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Craikeybaby said:
So are they the two really bright things I saw to the west about 7pm on Sunday?
Click to expand...

If you have an android phone Google Sky Map is free and worth downloading. You basically just point your phone at the sky and it shows a map of what you are looking at with the main features all identified.
 
My contribution from last night (March 13th) just a simple point & shoot without the tripod this time, testing out a couple of settings on the DSLR at dusk.

DSCF2342.jpg
 
i drove to the rollright stones expecting a big crowd,no one there and so much cloud we couldnt see anything.

still we had a nice fish and chips from the chippy in chippy! :D
 
I just had a go, my first ever attempt at such spacey type things so complete guesswork on settings. Having to MF with the 1.4x on the 70-300L and I missed focus (by a million miles or so) but I got some of Jupiters moons! More effort required tomorrow to do it properly but I'm quite pleased for a first attempt.

wow.jpg
 
Don't forget live view with 10x magnification if you are manual focussing.
 
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