Category: Sky Events

Sky events

Asteroid 2008 QE2 Ephemeris

Planning to make a go at photographing asteroid 2008 QE2 as it passes the Earth. Before I can do that a little planning is in order. Minor questions… Is it above the horizon near close approach, in my nighttime sky? It turns out this object will be available for observation.

The table below is a precision ephemeris generated by the NASA HORIZONS web interface for Mauna Kea on the island of Hawai’i. Listed are celestial coordinates, time, local elevation and azimuth, magnitude and distance. The marks after the time column indicate daylight (*), twilight (A) and moonlight (M).

From the data it is clear that the evening of May 30th (May 31st UT) allows observation from Hawai’i, at an elevation of ~46° a few hours after dark. Nicely placed and nicely timed for observation. Close approach is actually the next day, but the difference is minor. The next evening allows a second chance at the observation while the asteroid is still close.

Mercury, Venus and Jupiter

The evening dance of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter continues. This evening will see Jupiter and Venus draw to within 1°09′ of each other. Tomorrow will see the configuration shift a bit, Jupiter and Venus slightly closer at 1°05′ separation. Mercury will be about 3° above the close pair.

With Venus rising a little each day while Jupiter is heading into the sunset and superior conjunction, the pair will quickly separate after this close approach. After the end of the month Jupiter will depart the stage.

Mercury, Venus and Jupiter

e Moon, Venus and Aldebaran
The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran join up for an evening conjunction
If you have been watching the sunset for the last few days you have hopefully enjoyed the tight conjunction of the three brightest planets, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. Tonight this trio will continue to draw closer. Over the last few days Mercury and Venus have passed about 1°24′ away from each other. Now Jupiter is swinging down to join the pair, drawing within about 1° of Venus over the next few days. All three will remain within 3° of each other for three evenings, creating a triangle of very bright planets in the glow of sunset.

While Jupiter will leave the stage, exiting into the sunset after the end of the month, Mercury and Venus will continue the dance well into June.

Full Moon

Full Moon
Full Moon taken 27Aug2007, 90mm f/12 APO and Canon 20Da
Full Moon will occur today at 18:25HST.

A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur, but it is so minor there is little point in trying to observe it. As the NASA eclipse site notes… “With a penumbral eclipse magnitude [6] of 0.0158, just 0.5 arc-minutes of the Moon’s southern limb will pass into Earth’s pale penumbral shadow; such a shallow eclipse is only of academic interest since it will be all but impossible to detect.”

Continue reading “Full Moon”

Mercury, Venus and Jupiter

This evening, and the next few evenings, will find Mercury, Venus and Jupiter in a tight triangle just above the sunset. The trio will be separated by less than 3° and will be well above the setting Sun, 14° at sunset, thus will remain in the sky for almost an hour after the Sun slides below the horizon.

Tonight will see Mercury and Venus even closer, separated by only 1°48′, tomorrow that will shrink to 1°26′ and 1°22′ on the 24th. The trio will all be quite bright, with Mercury shining around -1 magnitude, Jupiter at -2, and Venus around -4 magnitude. Keep watching as this trio will continue to be quite close through the end of the month.

The Moon and Spica

Tonight the Moon will rendezvous with the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo. The Moon is approaching full, just under 90% illuminated. Evening will see the two quite close, about 2° apart. As the night progresses this separation will diminish as the Moon slides just south of the star. For viewers in Hawai’i the minimum separation will be about 40′ around 2:00 in the morning with the star just 25′ from the Moon’s pole.

Mercury, Venus and Jupiter

e Moon, Venus and Aldebaran
The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran join up for an evening conjunction
The three brightest planets are about to join up for an evening dance set. Currently Mercury is rising clear of the Sun’s glare into the evening sky. There it will join Venus and Jupiter for a conjunction that will continue, with various partners, for over a month. The three dancers will be well matched for brightness, with Mercury shining around -1 magnitude, Jupiter at -2, and Venus around -4 magnitude.

On the evening of May 24th Venus and Mercury will be about 2° apart with Jupiter 4° above. Closest approach of the three will occur the evening of May 26th with the trio forming a neat triangle about 2° on a side. On the 28th Venus and Jupiter will be just over 1° apart. During the first few days of June, the planet Jupiter will bow out of the dance, exiting the stage into the Sun’s glare. Venus and Mercury will join up one more time for a few days after June 17th, with a close approach on the 19th and 20th with about 2° separation between the two. When Mercury also heads into the sunset this dance will end during the last days of June.

On the 9th and 10th of June the Moon will run across the stage, a very thin crescent around 2% illuminated and 6° south of the planets.

Much of the dance will take place about 15° above the sunset, high enough to be nicely visible, low enough that the glow of sunset will provide a colorful backdrop to light the stage.

Mercury Appears in the Evening Sky

The planet Mercury is starting an evening apparition. The planet should become visible this week just above the fading glow of the setting Sun as a magnitude -1 object. Currently about 10° from the Sun it will rise higher each evening, reaching a maximum elongation of 24° on June 12th.

Mercury will join Venus and Jupiter in the sunset making for a series of planetary conjunctions over the coming month.