Two bright Stars/Planets

[markbmcfc]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/

Probably the best site for equipment.

How much you need, how long is a piece of string! It depends on what you want from a scope.

If you just wanna set up and look at the moon, get one of the beginner scopes from Argos, they will do that just fine.

If you want to get into amateur astronomy, locate and track objects through their orbit, see Nebula, clusters and galaxies, you need to be spending between £150 - £300.

 

[M22 Blue]

Noticed them both last night along side several Chinese lanterns, thought we were being fuckin invaded.

 

[The Silver Surfer]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/

Probably the best site for equipment.

How much you need, how long is a piece of string! It depends on what you want from a scope.

If you just wanna set up and look at the moon, get one of the beginner scopes from Argos, they will do that just fine.

If you want to get into amateur astronomy, locate and track objects through their orbit, see Nebula, clusters and galaxies, you need to be spending between £150 - £300.

Brilliant thanks mate!

 

[markbmcfc]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/

Probably the best site for equipment.

How much you need, how long is a piece of string! It depends on what you want from a scope.

If you just wanna set up and look at the moon, get one of the beginner scopes from Argos, they will do that just fine.

If you want to get into amateur astronomy, locate and track objects through their orbit, see Nebula, clusters and galaxies, you need to be spending between £150 - £300.

Brilliant thanks mate!

That £150-300 is just for beginner scopes though mate. The serious ones are upwards of that into the thousands.

 

[Plaything of the gods]

By Jove, misses!

Juiter and Venus very visible and easy to identify at the moment.

Graphic: Where to see the Jupiter-Venus conjunction

Are there others in the sky? I thought I heard a week or so ago that about 5 planets were visible. Is that Mars, a reddish colour, in the south, over to the left of Jupiter and Venus?

 

[markbmcfc]

You can see Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury with the naked eye.

Mercury is very hard to see, you have to be pretty high up and have a clear view of the horizon. If you look south west during the twilight hours, just before sunset where there is a tiny bit of light in the sky, you can see a small white dot very low in the west.

Jupiter and Venus are piss easy to see this time of year. Venus is the lower brighter object in the south and Jupiter slightly higher (though Jupiter is 'catching up' Venus). They can both be seen during the duration of the winter very easily.

Saturn is fantastic to look at. It can be seen rising quite low south east around 10.30pm this time of year. Its about 2am over the Christmas period.

Mars is the only one that has colour to it. The rest just look like white stars. It's unmissable as a deep bright orange. This time of year its pretty high in the south as Jupiter and Venus just start to set.

 

[another generation]

And all with a backdrop of Northern Lights. Mmm... Stunning.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

And all with a backdrop of Northern Lights. Mmm... Stunning.

Try and get a picture of that mate

 

[johnny on the spot]

Sirius looking great the last couple of nights.

 

[Plaything of the gods]

You can see Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury with the naked eye.

Mercury is very hard to see, you have to be pretty high up and have a clear view of the horizon. If you look south west during the twilight hours, just before sunset where there is a tiny bit of light in the sky, you can see a small white dot very low in the west.

Jupiter and Venus are piss easy to see this time of year. Venus is the lower brighter object in the south and Jupiter slightly higher (though Jupiter is 'catching up' Venus). They can both be seen during the duration of the winter very easily.

Saturn is fantastic to look at. It can be seen rising quite low south east around 10.30pm this time of year. Its about 2am over the Christmas period.

Mars is the only one that has colour to it. The rest just look like white stars. It's unmissable as a deep bright orange. This time of year its pretty high in the south as Jupiter and Venus just start to set.

Thanks! Although with my luck we've probably had the last of the clear sky evenings for these positions.

Anyway(!), where is Mars currently in relation to Orion's belt? The reddish light I saw yesterday was pretty close to it, but then as the sky got darker there seemed to be other reddish lights, including (as I remember) one pretty well overhead. My eyesight may not be too good!

With all the planets being in the same rough plane around the sun and Jupiter seemingly moving to the west, does this mean that all the planets can be found close to an east-west axis, or can they be found all around the sky at different times?

 

[Figgylion]

Download this to your pc (it's free) <a class="postlink" href="http://www.stellarium.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stellarium.org/</a>
It will will show you all you need to know about the night sky.

Enter your co-ordinates and it will show you the sky from your position

 

[pominoz]

Photo of it taken from my back garden 10 minutes ago, its a lot brighter than it looks in this pic. The kids loved it looking at two planets.

 

[markbmcfc]

You can see Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury with the naked eye.

Mercury is very hard to see, you have to be pretty high up and have a clear view of the horizon. If you look south west during the twilight hours, just before sunset where there is a tiny bit of light in the sky, you can see a small white dot very low in the west.

Jupiter and Venus are piss easy to see this time of year. Venus is the lower brighter object in the south and Jupiter slightly higher (though Jupiter is 'catching up' Venus). They can both be seen during the duration of the winter very easily.

Saturn is fantastic to look at. It can be seen rising quite low south east around 10.30pm this time of year. Its about 2am over the Christmas period.

Mars is the only one that has colour to it. The rest just look like white stars. It's unmissable as a deep bright orange. This time of year its pretty high in the south as Jupiter and Venus just start to set.

Thanks! Although with my luck we've probably had the last of the clear sky evenings for these positions.

Anyway(!), where is Mars currently in relation to Orion's belt? The reddish light I saw yesterday was pretty close to it, but then as the sky got darker there seemed to be other reddish lights, including (as I remember) one pretty well overhead. My eyesight may not be too good!

With all the planets being in the same rough plane around the sun and Jupiter seemingly moving to the west, does this mean that all the planets can be found close to an east-west axis, or can they be found all around the sky at different times?

OK if you look south about 7pm, you'll see Jupiter and Venus setting to the west. Directly south you will see Orion, and then if you look east you will see Mars pretty high in the sky.

If you were to stand facing south, Jupiter, venus to the right. Orion smack in front of you and Mars to the left. Its the only thing south east that's orange and bright/big. The Orange coloured twinkly star near Orion is Betelgeuse.

 

[Figgylion]

Photo of it taken from my back garden 10 minutes ago, its a lot brighter than it looks in this pic. The kids loved it looking at two planets.

Mars is up now as well mate. Saturn rising in the east too.
I'm out at the Telescope in the garden right now.
Just nipped in for a cuppa as I wait for Mars to get over head for better viewing. Already seen a bit of detail on the surface should be good viewing later on

 

[markbmcfc]

If you can see Orion, have a look at the Orion nebula. Awesome.

Even better with a UHC/Nebula filter in your scope.

 

[ali benarbia's studs]

if the clouds feck off i may get a look!

 

[pominoz]

Photo of it taken from my back garden 10 minutes ago, its a lot brighter than it looks in this pic. The kids loved it looking at two planets.

Mars is up now as well mate. Saturn rising in the east too.
I'm out at the Telescope in the garden right now.
Just nipped in for a cuppa as I wait for Mars to get over head for better viewing. Already seen a bit of detail on the surface should be good viewing later on

Do not have a telescope but can see Mars.
Mount Macedon is a couple of miles east of us and blocks half the sky out, may see Saturn later, if visible by eye?

 

[Figgylion]

If you can see Orion, have a look at the Orion nebula. Awesome.

Even better with a UHC/Nebula filter in your scope.

Had a look tonight, usually do when it's up. Great viewing tonight, trapezium was crystal clear. Saturn was just rising before I came in, quite low but was amazing to look at, best I've seen of it in a few years. Stayed out for an extra 1/2 hour just gazing at it

 

[Figgylion]

Do not have a telescope but can see Mars.
Mount Macedon is a couple of miles east of us and blocks half the sky out, may see Saturn later, if visible by eye?

Yeah mate. Look to the east. You should see two fairly bright stars one above the other. The higher one is the star Spica, Saturn is the lower one. Unfortunatley, without a scope it looks like a star and not much else.

 

[pominoz]

Yeah mate. Look to the east. You should see two fairly bright stars one above the other. The higher one is the star Spica, Saturn is the lower one. Unfortunatley, without a scope it looks like a star and not much else.

Cheers, just spotted it. Great night, first time i have seen 4 planets in one night. Well pleased.