Nice alignment of 3 planets today.
Jupiter
Jupiter-Mars Conjunction | Aug 2024
The planets Jupiter and Mars were near each other in the early morning eastern skies during the first half of August. The morning of closest approach was 14 August. I used this conjunction opportunity to photograph the pair of planets each morning my skies were clear. I overlaid my photographs to show their progress. First, a few simulations for perspective on what was happening day to day as the planets moved. These images and videos are best viewed on a screen larger than a phone.
Here is a brief video of the orbits of the inner planets and Jupiter as seen from high above our solar system. The dates are in the top left corner. Notice the movements of Earth, Mars, and Jupiter have quite different speeds. Farther planets from the Sun move slower. The line of sight from Earth toward Jupiter aligns closely with Mars.
Venus-Jupiter conjunction progress
I started imaging the evening pair of planets on 19 February when they were still quite far apart. My camera is a Canon Powershot SX60HS with a powerful zoom. It was mounted on a tripod. Settings of ISO 200, 0.5 sec, infinity focus, 2 sec delay timer, and medium zoom were saved for future exposures over the next days of the conjunction. I tried to time exposures between 6:30 and 6:45 pm. Lengthening daylight and weather conditions were challenges. Our region of the mid-United States is especially prone to clouds and wind this time of year. I felt lucky to get six images over twelve days.
Pixelmator Pro was used to layer the images and add text notations. I aligned each exposure on Jupiter as the frame of reference. Both planets moved from night to night. Jupiter moved down to toward the Sun a small amount each day. Venus moved up away from the Sun a greater distance each day. Jupiter was 8x farther away. Venus is rounding the curve of orbit, increasing elongation from the Sun, and catching up to Earth over the next months. It moved from the bottom toward the top of this composite image.
Venus-Jupiter Daylight view | 1 Mar 2023
Like many others, I’ve been following the evening views of Jupiter and Venus. It has been a challenge to get clear skies in order to see their progress as they neared each other. Today started foggy. That moved out leaving clear skies. I set up my 102 mm Meade refractor on the go-to mount and asked it to find Venus. There it was, glowing bright in the eyepiece, with the much dimmer disc of Jupiter to the lower left. It was a rare sight. I’ve seen both of these planets separately several times before in the daytime with my naked eye, binoculars, and telescope. It is a fun challenge. This was special to see them both in the same view of the eyepiece.
I had an eyepiece camera mounted on the telescope part of the time hoping to get an image with it. I couldn’t find them. So, as a last resort, I held my phone up to the eyepiece as steadily as I could and took 3 images. Maybe one of them would be ok. To my surprise, one of them came out well. I adjusted the image a bit and added notations.
Jupiter Oscillations
A typical procedure in astrophotography involves mounting a camera on a stable platform like a tripod so it doesn’t move during exposures. Some people have motorized platforms that allow the camera to move and track the subject for long exposures of several minutes. I was curious how an image would look for a camera mounted on strings that allowed it to swing forward-backward and left-right at the same time during an exposure. Years ago, this image appeared in a magazine. I kept it and thought of trying it someday.
How I See It 