Venus & Jupiter Conjuction

August 13 - 19th, 2014 will bring the morning planets Venus and Jupiter to within a few tenths of a degree of each other in the predawn hour. I made my first observations this morning with the planets about a fist's width apart.

via SkySafari iOS app

My original target was the Perseids, having had dense clouds and rain the previous two nights. I was able to see one streak overhead about 4:00 am, but the sky was too light with the bright waning gibbous moon high to the south and casting shadows on the ground. I decided to bring out the telescope and searched around for other targets. Working from my driveway, I was limited to patches of sky between the trees. North of zennith a large patch of sky revealed a particularly bright Cassiopea and Perseus.

non est ad astra mollis e terris via

While the sky is too bright to see the Milky Way, the higher density of stars was more than apparent as I roamed around these two constellations with the telescope. Landing on the bright center star of Cassiopea, Navi, I thought of one of my boyhood heros. Navi is a renamed star. This star was used by Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom as a navigational star and renamed with the anagram of his name.

Scanning to the East, I noticed the variable double Capella. And then, right at the top of the tree line a light that at first fooled me for a distant streetlight, I realized I was seeing Venus rising. I slued the telescope toward Venus and observed the bright fuzzy disk as it rose higher in the sky. The sky transitioned from a deep blue to pale pink-orange, but remained dark enough for Jupiter to rise to be seen. While the sky was now too bright to make out any surface features, I could see Io and Europa clearly.

 The coming mornings should bring even more impressive views of this planetary pairing, and if I'm lucky enough to get some darker skies, just maybe the Beehive Cluster will come into view.

By August 23rd, Venus and Jupiter will be 5° apart and swapped places with Jupiter now higher. On the 23rd, they will be joined by a razor-thin waning crescent Moon to their right. - See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/press-releases/venus-jupiter-2014-press-release/#sthash.pM6sO9eI.dpuf

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