I was driving home today, and spotted the crescent moon and Jupiter, but no Venus.
Ten minutes later, heading down the M3, I looked at the moon and saw Venus just emerging on the bright edge - not just a planetary conjunction, but an lunar occlusion as well. Well cool. Makes up for missing the smiley, but does anyone have any pics?
Clear here tonight. I took some pictures; man it was COLD out there! It was hard (for me) to get the moon in focus and still include the planets. But for those who are clouded out, as I was last night: A picture.
I noticed it on the way home from the station about 5:30 - Venus was just a little way off the bright edge - I phoned home and said “LookOutOfTheWindowAtTheMoonTheMoonTheMoon! GetTheKidsToLookAtTheMoon!”. They didn’t find it quite so spectacular, or if they did, managed to keep an impressive rein on their excitement.
I had had no idea this was happening, but a friend phoned us up last night and said “You must look at the moon. Now!”
We had to stand on the neighbor’s fence to see it, but it was a lovely clear sky for viewing. Mr Aspy had to poke me a couple of times till I “got it” though (I was all - ‘Hey, there’s a really bright star kind of near the moon. I wonder if it’s one of the planets? Um - what are we s’posed to be looking for again?’)
Boscibo, thanks for the photo. It’s my new desktop background.
It’s clear here tonight. If I wasn’t such a pansy, I’d go outside with the binoculars. Local weather guy says you can see some features, even a couple of Jupiter’s moons. But it’s too damn cold and I’d probably slip on the steps (snow and ice).
It was crystal clear in Houston about 5:30 this evening, when I stepped out of the office to go home, and the moon, Jupiter and Venus were vivid. I mentioned the sight to one of the guys in the warehouse, and he just sort of shrugged and went back in. Oh well.
It was gorgeous tonight in Norfolk, VA and also in DC. It was especially magical in Norfolk, as I was at the airport, with a girl I had just randomly met, and the plane we were going on was one of those small commuter jets. There was no tunnel, so we were walking onto the runway and into the night sky. The upside-down smiley face shone prominently. I ironically quoted Gone With The Wind. She was putty in my hands for the rest of the night, and I’m going to see her next weekend in Atlanta. Thank you astronomy!