Jupiter and Saturn

With this post, I intend to show you my record of a sight in the night sky which has not been seen since the year 1226. (It did also happen in 1623, but during that occurrence, its apparent position was so close to the sun that it was impossible to see.)  I'm talking about the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. They will reach their closest point to one another (as seen from earth) on December 21, 2020.   

I don't know if you have been watching this over the last few months, but I have, and I have a few pictures. (very few) The sky unfortunately, did not cooperate with me to the degree I would have liked. But, at least I have something. I think it is a very interesting occurrence.  I didn't want you to miss it. 

After seeing my attempt here, you may decide to look up some professional photos or videos of the event. (there are some amazing ones.)  If you do, you will probably notice that the positions of Jupiter and Saturn are reversed from what you'll see in my pictures. It's all a matter of hemispheres.

(All photos used in this post are provided courtesy of the D. J. Foster  Astronomical Observatory, located practically on the slopes of Mt. Dizzy, in the Western Heights of Auckland, New Zealand.) 

This is the main observatory building, shown at dusk. 

                                                               Picture 1 

And  this is the 'night sky data collection site.'     picture 2

This first picture was taken on October 23, 2020.  The moon here appears directly above Saturn. Notice how much space there is between Jupiter and Saturn at this time. I measured about 8 moon widths between them.                  3

These next pictures were taken the night of December 15, 2020.  I'm going to zoom in on that area in the middle of the picture.  The moon isn't in this shot obviously, but I think you can imagine what it would look like based on the trees in the photo.  

                                                                           4

Look at how close together they have become. Jupiter is the brighter of the two of course. They are only about one moon-width apart.        5

                                                                                     6

                                                                                     7

These shots are from the night of December 17, 2020.  It was not a great night for pictures. While they don't show in these photos, there were very high clouds that made it hard to get focused pictures of the planets. They are closer yet.  Less than the width of the moon. 

                                                                      8

                                                                                     9

I've zoomed in a lot for this last picture, and camera movement caused the planets to elongate, but I wanted to show them to you a little more clearly.  

                                                                           10

The next three photos were taken the night of December 19, 2020.  

                                                                            11

                                                                                         12

Compare this picture, number 12, with picture number 7.  You will notice that although the palm leaves in 12 are larger than they are in 7, indicating a higher camera magnification, the planets are much closer together in 12 than they are in number 7.  

                                                                                 13

This shot is a little later the same night, at a lower zoom setting.  

This is the evening of the 20th.                          14

15

                                                                           16

Compare number 17 with number 12. I think they are at approximately the same magnification and you can see how much closer they are now. I just measured. In number 12, they appear 1.6 centimeters apart. In 17 they are about 1 centimeter apart.   

                                                                                       17

Here is the best shot of the moon I could get on 12/20/20. Lots of humidity makes for fuzziness.  Still, it's at least a record of the evening.  (I've been trying for the last few days to get a good moon picture, but up until tonight, the humidity was so high that the camera wouldn't focus at all.)                                     18

We had a heavy cloud cover all day Monday, 12/21/20. I had little hope of being able to see the conjunction. However, as evening progressed, look what happened...

                                                                         19

Not long afterwards, even though there was a layer of high, high clouds left, I got this surprising shot.  It's at 96 power.  

I say surprising for three reasons. At that high magnification, I usually get camera movement and that deforms the shape of the planets. But look at Jupiter; perfectly round. Saturn is a little out of round, but that's because of its rings I'll bet. And look at the color difference between them.  Finally, and most surprising to me, was that Saturn is now lower than Jupiter is.  

Look back at picture 17.  That is so cool.  It appears that it may have just passed its very closest point.                                                     20

A little later, I got this relatively clear photo. None of my shots tonight are as clear as I'd like. The high clouds just wouldn't permit it, but I am hugely thankful that I was able to see it at all. 

                                                                        21 

As the light faded and the planetary pair sunk toward the horizon, I took many more shots and from them, saved just these four.                        22

                                                                         23

                  

                                                                                     24

                                                                                      25

So that's it. We have seen the great conjunction of December 21, 2020.  I've had such a good time watching it happen over the last few months and I'm so glad that I have been able to share it with you.  

Oh, are you wondering maybe what the moon was doing while I was trying to get shots of planets elsewhere in the sky? I took just one shot of it. It'll show you how lucky I was to get the pictures I did get.  Take a look.  

I think that it's practically a miracle that the clouds rolled away just in time.

Yawn..., I just finished putting these last shots into the post at 11:20 p.m. That's very late for me. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all, a goodnight.     -djf

Update:

Just because I am in the habit of watching the skies at nightfall, I went out last night even though we had cloud cover. I watched where they should be, and I was treated to a few very fleeting glimpses...

Our forecast is for rain tonight. Guess the observatory is closed....              djf