Twas the night before the big Jupiter & Saturn conjunction and all through the sky not a creature was stirring except my Nikon clicking away!
Jupiter and Saturn Conjunction Dec. 20, 2020
I shot these two this evening from my heavily treed backyard. Photo settings were as follows: 100mm, F/5.6, 2.5 second exposure and ISO1600 with a Nikon D5100.
At first glance you might think there is not much to see here, and if you were expecting the festoons of Jupiter or Saturn’s rings you’d be right but looking closer you can definitely make out a few things. Jupiter is clearly brighter than Saturn and Saturn is more orange in color than Jupiter. You can just see a hint of the Galilean moons around Jupiter as well.
After a year that won’t soon be forgotten, of course I’m talking about the pandemic, there are a number of celestial events occurring this December that should peak your interest and get you out of the house in the cold morning or night air.
A pair of meteor showers, a pair of conjunctions (one of which will be epic), the December Solstice and a total solar eclipse for sky watchers in South America all happening in December. Throw in Christmas and New Year’s Eve and you have a busy month to be sure. So let’s run them down in a little more detail.
Look low in the west after sunset in late May to catch Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury dancing closely in the sky. The best time to see them should be 40 minutes after local sunset. See the video prepared by Sky & Telescope for the planets positions relative to each other over several weeks into June. From Friday, May 24th through Wednesday, May 29th Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury will all be within 5 degrees of each other providing a great opportunity to check them out in binoculars. You should be able to see all three planets in the field of view in your binoculars. Brilliant Venus will be the brightest followed by Jupiter and Mercury. This celestial sky show will take place on the western skyline about 10 degrees (the height of your clinched fist held at arm’s length) above the horizon. Jupiter falls from view beginning on June 6th while the Moon begins to make it’s presence known very low on the horizon on June 9th.
Current amateur astronomy information such as points of interest and events in the night sky, star party dates, educational information, telescopes buying tips and much more.
