December Conjunction
We sent out the following email to our members the week before last:
Dear Friend, I wanted to update you regarding a rare and beautiful conjunction of Venus and Jupiter that is taking place right now and will come to its climactic view on the evening of December 1st.
If you head out tonight when it begins to get dark (just after 5:00 pm), you will notice two very bright stars in the southwestern sky. The brighter star on the bottom is the planet Venus, and the dimmer star above is Jupiter. Every night you head out, you will notice that these two planets get closer and closer to each other.
Then, on November 30th, they will be very close to each other (appearing as though Jupiter is hovering above Venus) and the young crescent Moon will be getting closer to them.
Finally, on December 1st, the Moon will be just above the conjunction of these two stars (image below). This is a fairly rare event and one that will be sure to generate some excitement for anybody who takes the time to look!
Dear Friend, I wanted to update you regarding a rare and beautiful conjunction of Venus and Jupiter that is taking place right now and will come to its climactic view on the evening of December 1st.
If you head out tonight when it begins to get dark (just after 5:00 pm), you will notice two very bright stars in the southwestern sky. The brighter star on the bottom is the planet Venus, and the dimmer star above is Jupiter. Every night you head out, you will notice that these two planets get closer and closer to each other.
Then, on November 30th, they will be very close to each other (appearing as though Jupiter is hovering above Venus) and the young crescent Moon will be getting closer to them.
Finally, on December 1st, the Moon will be just above the conjunction of these two stars (image below). This is a fairly rare event and one that will be sure to generate some excitement for anybody who takes the time to look!
My suggestion is to take out a pair of Binoculars (not a telescope) and observe this conjunction through them. Then, pass the binoculars around to all of your friends.
Please be sure to let us know what you thought of the conjunction. And, if you get a good picture of it, please forward it to us, and we will post it online.
The conjunction was a beautiful sight and several of our members sent in pictures. If you would like to see the picture, click here.