Stuff going on in the sky.......

rolf_f

Now then, I pop out to put the car away and what do I see in the sky but some bright blobs! I am aware that half the planets in the solar system are visible right now so I nip in and take some pics.

This is what I see from my bedroom window without magnification. One very bright blob with a less bright blob below it.



Now it takes me a while to set up the zoom pics - basically, because the only way to get a pic from inside is to balance the camera on the open window frame! And then I have to use some masking tape to angle the camera a bit.

So the next pic is the upper, brighter blob. I suspect it might be Venus. Either way, it looks pretty pleased with itself......



Now, Venus and Jupiter are meant to be next to each other right now so I assume that the less bright blob is Jupiter. However, I notice that by the time I get a chance to photograph it, it is barely above the roofs of the houses opposite (I think the blurry marks on the picture are from the tree visible in the first pic). And it has a tail. This shows up in all the pics I took. I can't see how it can be camera movement as I could see it in the view screen and it always pointed down. Besides, blur wouldn't look like that. I took about three shots of each and the tail appears in all of the second one and none of the larger. There is only 8 minutes between the first and last pics so it wasn't exactly slow. But it looks more normal in the first pic but then you can't really see much there. Maybe it is interference with the trees.......



So, can anyone who can remember more astronomy than I can tell me what I'm seeing?

Yukirin

Venus and Jupiter in the west, Venus being the brighter of the two. Cant see any mention of any comets so can only put it down to the optics in your zoom?
Also, Venus should not appear as a disc, its only about 55% illuminated at the moment, so should look like a half moon.
www.curtrenz.com/venus08.html

scrumpydave

Yes, Venus and Jupiter. I recommend http://www.stellarium.org if you want to know exactly what you're looking at. Great program.

tgotb

That's very cool.

See if you can grab a picture of Mars (also visible). At the resolution you're getting, you might be lucky enough to get an ice cap!

rolf_f

Yukirin wrote:

Also, Venus should not appear as a disc, its only about 55% illuminated at the moment, so should look like a half moon.
http://www.curtrenz.com/venus08.html

Try telling Venus that. I'm confused now. If it isn't Venus, what is it? Both are clearly discs.

TGOTB wrote:

That's very cool.

See if you can grab a picture of Mars (also visible). At the resolution you're getting, you might be lucky enough to get an ice cap!

Is that morning only?

FWIW, the camera is a slightly dodgy Panasonic FZ or something thingy with a 12x optical zoom. Not too bad really.

tgotb

Rolf F wrote:

TGOTB wrote:

That's very cool.

See if you can grab a picture of Mars (also visible). At the resolution you're getting, you might be lucky enough to get an ice cap!

Is that morning only?

No, Mars is around in the evening (vaguely in the west IIRC). Quite easy to spot because it's bright (comparable with Jupiter) and very red. I always find the fact it's red because you're seeing light reflected off Martian soil is quite cool. I think Saturn is visible later on, or maybe morning.

Google Sky Map is awesome for this if you have an Android phone...