Jupiter and Venus get close

[Catherine]

Not sure if anyone has posted this elsewhere, but cannot see any reference so far!

A few night ago I noticed two very bright stars together in the night sky, and meant to check sky maps for them - but forgot.

On Monday night(11th March) they seemed opposite each other, about 30 degrees up in the western sky at app. 9pm.

Then I read this article on Sky News this morning;
Jupiter And Venus: Night Sky - Planets Align In The Sky For Astronomers In Rare Occurrence | Technology | Sky News

They are actually Jupiter and Venus. It seems we'll still have a few nights to observe them close together, so I thought I'd pass on the info.!

Here is a map of the night sky over London just now, with Jupiter and Venus together on the lower left.
Current night sky over London - AstroViewer

[rolf]

Must make an effort on this, the sky wasn't clear last night though, hopefully tonight.

[Vastra]

Am on the case people Here are the Vital Statistics :- Exposure Programe = Shutter Priority,
Exposure = 1 Second,
ISO = 1600,
White Balance = Auto
f/5.6

The only editing done was to darken the sky with Histogram, as it had a red tint with the original

[Catherine]

Oh, wow! Fantastic shot!

And you can even see Jupiter's moons!

I tried with my little compact last night, then with our new Lumix (still not an SLR though.)

The Olympus one was without a zoom, just as it was, and the Lumix one was zoomed in and cropped. Both were on 'auto' as I was in a hurry, but both showed Jupiter as bluish green.

Venus was VERY bright.

Waiting for yours now, Rolf!

[rolf]

Forgot last night I'm afraid Catherine.