Jupiter & Venus - Transit

Who says the number 13 is an unfortunate number.  March the 13th is the best of times because after an overcast and cloud-filled skies above me never seemed to open up.  But the sudden appearance of my 'two friends' suddenly said 'Hi' through my gloomy spell.

Both continue their journey westward, pulling away 1˚ each day now.

Jupiter (left), and Venus. 8:30pm

The close coincidence of Venus and Jupiter in conjunction, (or transit) the steep angle of the ecliptic and Venus’ greatest evening elongation keeps these worlds up for several hours after dark – and ensures  a beautiful gathering of worlds in the western evening sky this month. They are well worth getting outside to see.

Bottom line: Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction on March 13, 2012. This is the best evening Venus-Jupiter conjunction for years, as seen from different parts of the hemisphere.  Venus and Jupiter stay out for nearly four hours after sunset. Venus and Jupiter are close throughout the month of March 2012. They are like twin beacons – two very bright planets – near each other in the west as soon as the sun goes down. (Excerpt from EarthSky.org)

Other than Messier and Caldwell objects, running parallel to these are my quest for 'Near-Earth objects'.  Or a layman would say, asteroids and comets.  And not-so-distant away, the imminent hunt for orbiting satellites and other space junk would not be foreign as before.

So lookout for my posts, as they say, 'will arise from the East' and you know it's here!

Planet Hunt!

JUPITER - King of the planets!

First of the four 'Gas Planets'. Shot in October 2011, this giant planet is obvious in the night sky.  It takes 11.86 years to circle the Sun and only need about 10 hours to make one 'earth day'.  Its atmosphere is composed of hydrogen and helium gas and strong east-west winds in the upper atmosphere are responsible for pulling these climatic features into dark and light stripes.  The picture below was taken in November 2011.

Looking through the scope, one can clearly see the four moons revolving around the big planet.  This is my first encounter of Jupiter from my new telescope, what an awesome experience!

January 2012

MARS - The Red planet

I actually spotted this red 'orb' with my naked eye thinking that it was just another 'paper lantern' since it's Chinese New Year in late January.  But no, it's Mars. By 10pm (+8:00 GMT) Mars is already up at 40˚ altitude; and it's easy to spot - it's bright red.  Because of its 'red' looks, it is named after the Roman god of war.

Mars takes around 2 years to orbit the Sun and its 'day' is a little more than 24 hours.

SATURN - The father of Zeus (Jupiter)

Second of the Gas planets and is most popular for its rings.  The same night I located Mars, I tried my chance of locating Saturn also, so I waited till 1 am.  Unfortunately a huge cloud cover dominated the skies. And there was the Moon.

I tried again a week later on February 5th between 12 am and 2 am, Saturn was sighted with its rings tilted at 15˚.  What a sight!  Through my scope lens it looked so clear and bright - looked unreal.  But there it was.

Saturn has no solid surface.  It is surrounded by layers of gas and traces of water. The gases comprises of metallic liquid hydrogen, liquid hydrogen and helium.  A vicious mix!  It orbits around the Sun and on itself right the same as Jupiter's.

And last, but not least....

VENUS - The brightest of them all.

It is sometimes called 'Earth's sister planet' because of their similarities in size, mass and structure.  Though its name suggest a more 'feminine' character but Venus does hide a dark secret underneath its deceiving looks.

Its atmosphere is 90 times greater than Earth's, meaning on its surface, we would be crushed.  Much akin to 1km below the surface of Earth's oceans.  While much of Venus' atmosphere is packed with carbon dioxide and lots of sulfur dioxide on the surface, this makes Venus the hottest planet in the our solar system!  One 'Venusian' day, is 243 (Earth) days - one of the slowest of all planets - and that is why the surface facing the sun is hot like 'hell', as scientists would say. Venus orbits the Sun in about 7 months. 

I call it the 'greenhouse effect' planet.  Venus shine so bright is because of its cloud-based atmosphere like ours and the elements that lurk underneath.  Looking through the telescope, Venus looks pale and featureless, almost serene.  In actual fact, the true colours of this planet are reddish-brown.

Photos of the surface of Venus by Russian and Nasa's lander.  The probes only lasted less than 30 mins then transmission was lost.  It was probably crushed by the Venusian atmospheric pressure and heat. 

Venus and Uranus are the only two planets in our system that have a 'retrograde' orbit round the Sun.  While all the planets turn in a counter-clockwise direction, both these planets turn clockwise.

In all, it was worth it.  It took me 4 months to be able to photograph Venus properly, as of now, its an 'Evening star'.  It was difficult to photograph towards the setting Sun, plus it was always cloudy, being so close to the Equator.

My next goal is to catch Uranus and some asteroids that are wondering in the skies above me, waiting to be 'blogged'!! Lol!!!

When Evening Comes.

When I look out my window on some evenings, this is what I see.

 Kota Kinabalu has one of the best sunset views.

Beauty has its drawbacks too, I wished i would have clear skies often.  But yeah,..these are the conditions you'd get over this side of the world.

                                                                              Sighting 'Jupiter'.

                                                                               22:00 Mars.

 

Jupiter & Venus Transition.

Who says the number 13 is an unfortunate number.  March 13th is the best of times because after an overcast and cloud-filled skies above me never seemed to open up.  But the sudden appearance of my 'two friends' suddenly said 'Hi' through my gloomy spell.

Jupiter (left), and Venus.  8:30pm

Both continue their journey westward, pulling away 1deg each day now.

The close coincidence of Venus and Jupiter in conjunction, the steep angle of the ecliptic and Venus’ greatest evening elongation keeps these worlds up for several hours after dark – and ensures  a beautiful gathering of worlds in the western evening sky this month. They are well worth getting outside to see.

Bottom line: Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction on March 13, 2012. This is the best evening Venus-Jupiter conjunction for years, as seen from different parts of the hemisphere.  Venus and Jupiter stay out for nearly four hours after sunset. Venus and Jupiter are close throughout the month of March 2012. They are like twin beacons – two very bright planets – near each other in the west as soon as the sun goes down. (Excerpt from EarthSky.org)

Other than Messier and Caldwell objects, running parallel to these are my quest for 'Near-Earth objects'.  Or a layman would say, asteroids and comets.  And not-so-distant away, the imminent hunt for orbiting satellites and other space junk, will not be foreign as before.

So lookout for my posts, as they say, 'will arise from the East' and you know its here!

Planet Hunt

November 2011

January 2012

JUPITER - King of the planets!

First of the four 'Gas Planets'. Shot in October 2011, this giant planet is obvious in the night sky.  It takes 11.86 years to circle the Sun and only need about 10 hours to make one 'earth day'.  Its atmosphere is composed of hydrogen and helium gas and strong east-west winds in the upper atmosphere are responsible for pulling these climatic features into dark and light stripes.

Looking through the scope, one can clearly see the four moons revolving around the big planet.  This is my first encounter of Jupiter from my new telescope, what an awesome experience!

MARS - The Red planet

 I actually spotted this red 'orb' with my naked eye thinking that it was just another 'paper lantern' since it's Chinese New Year in late January.  But no, it's Mars. By 10pm (+8:00 GMT) Mars is already up at 40deg altitude; and it's easy to spot - it's bright red.  Because of its 'red' looks, it is named after the Roman god of war.

Mars takes around 2 years to orbit the Sun and its 'day' is a little more than 24 hours.

SATURN - The father of Zeus (Jupiter)

Second of the Gas planets and is most popular for its rings.  The same night I located Mars, I tried my chance of locating Saturn also, so I waited till 1 am.  Unfortunately a hugh cloud cover dominated the skies. And there was the Moon.

I tried again a week later on February 5th between 12 am and 2 am, Saturn was sighted with its rings tilted at 15deg.  What a sight!

Through my scope lens it looked so clear and bright - looked unreal.  But there it was.

Saturn has no solid surface.  It is surrounded by layers of gas and traces of water. The gases comprises of metallic liquid hydrogen, liquid hydrogen and helium.  A vicious mix!

It orbits around the Sun and on itself right the same as Jupiter's.

And last, but not least....

                                                  VENUS - The brightest of them all.

February 25th, 2012

It is sometimes called 'Earth's sister planet' because of their similarities in size, mass and structure.  Though its name suggest a more 'feminine' character but Venus does hide a dark secret underneath its deceiving looks.  

Its atmosphere is 90 times greater than Earth's, meaning on its surface, we would be crushed.  Much akin to 1km below the surface of Earth's oceans.  While much of Venus' atmosphere is packed with carbon dioxide and lots of sulfer dioxide on the surface, this makes Venus the hottest planet in the our solar system! Welcome to 'hell' as scientists would describe the planet. Literally.

I call it the 'greenhouse effect' planet.  Venus shine so bright is because of its cloud-based atmosphere like ours and the elements that lurk underneath.  Looking through the telescope, Venus looks pale and featureless, almost serene.  In actual fact, the true colours of this planet are reddish-brown.

Venus and Uranus are the only two planets in our system that have a 'retrograde' orbit round the Sun.  While all the planets turn in a counter-clockwise direction, both these planets turn clockwise. 

One 'Venusian' day, is 243 (Earth) days - one of the slowest of all planets. Venus orbits the Sun in about 7 months.

In all, it was worth it.  It took me 4 months to be able to photograph Venus properly, as of now, its an 'Evening star'.  It was difficult to photograph towards the setting Sun, plus it was always cloudy, being so close to the Equator.

My next goal is to catch Uranus and some asteroids that are wondering in the skies above me, waiting to be 'blogged'!! Lol!!!

When Evening Comes

When I look out my window on some evenings, this is what I see.

 Kota Kinabalu has one of the best sunset views.

Beauty has its drawbacks too, I wished i would have clear skies often.  But yeah,..these are the conditions you'd get over this side of the world.

Sighting Jupiter.

Mars, from my backyard.

Moon and Jupiter

Conjunction - Venus & Jupiter.

Conjunction is a term used in positional astronomy It means that, as seen from some place (usually the Earth), two celestial bodies appear near one another in the sky. The event is also sometimes known as an appulse.

The astronomical and astrological symbol of conjunction is ☌

Venus and Jupiter will pass close to each other by the 13th of March.  They are gradually getting closer by 1deg each day.  Get your cameras out for this spectacular astronomical event!

Venus (bottom) and Jupiter (top) as seen from the top of my office at 18:45.  The crescent moon is hidden by the clouds near the horizon.

Crescent Moon with Venus & Jupiter (top).
Taken on 25th February 2012

                                                                       







Taken on the 25th of February outside my home.  The clouds were beginning to edge closer so I got my camera out and photographed these 'three that came out to play'.

Well, hopefully clear skies for that exciting week!















After all that sweating and haste in setting up for those shots, this is the ever beautiful crescent moon - climbing higher each night.