Evening Sky, Tonight

 Beautiful clear evening sky, tonight: Jupiter, Saturn and Venus in a line, alongside the crescent Moon.

Planet Year

So, just over a year ago, as recorded here, I saw Mercury for the first time.

And in March and April, the Moon and Venus could be seen close together.  And also over Nunhead.  And sometimes just the Moon, or  Venus alone.   And by September, people were speculating about Life on the planet.

By October, Mars was the star in the sky, as it was in bright opposition.  And we shared a poem on the mystery of the Telescope.  In November, the Moon joined the red planet.

Then in December came the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  About which XKCD had something to say.

Finally, last month, near to Mars, faintly in the sky, I could just make out Uranus!

So in one year, we had most of the solar system that is visible to the unaided eye, and some good seeing.  

In fact, probably, the naked-eye planet I saw the least of, was the Earth...

Uranus

It was a beautifully clear night, last night.  Orion rode high, and to the west of the Hunter lay the Moon and Mars.  Using binoculars, following the advice in various journals, and checking what my Stellarium software showed, I could just pick out a faint star below and to the left of the red planet.

Uranus!

(Be careful how you say it).

More on the Conjunction, from XKCD

 Find the whole wonderful thing here...

The Great Conjunction

 We finally had a clear night tonight.

Looking from the top of the house I could perfectly see Jupiter and Saturn together. It might *just* have been possible to separate them with the naked eye, but with the camera they could be easily separated. With the strongest lens, pictures showed them as separate dots (see below, Saturn is the fainter of the two, at about 11 o clock). Then we tried the binoculars, which also clearly resolved two flecks of light.

They were higher above the horizon than I had expected, and the night was *really* clear, which meant there was a little more time.

So I wrecked the study digging out the 2 1/2 inch refractor bought (from Lidl!) 13 or so years ago, and half assembled it. No spotting scope, no fine controls. And with that we could see the two planets, in the same image, as more than mere dots. The paler Saturn was lower due to image inversion and slightly to the right. Saturn's rings were discernible - everyone saw it as ovoid, and I think I could just make them out. And there was a string of three tiny pearl-like moons stretching out from Jupiter.

Sadly, I can't (yet!) hook the DSLR up to the telescope. But just seeing the two planets together like that was quite amazing.

From the Nasa Website:

'What makes this year’s spectacle so rare, then? It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction.”' (Click on the images to see them clearly)

Mars is Bright Tonight

 It's in Opposition today.

Sadly, I can't see it being bright.  Because cloud.

UPDATE: The clouds cleared, and I could see the red eye shining balefully...

Is There Life On Venus?

 Well, we just don't know!  (To quote).  However, The Sky at Night has just beautifully explained the science, the hope and the doubt.  Such Joy!!!

Watch it here.