What planets are visible this evening?

shedweller · 19-02-2015 06:58PM #1

Thought it might be a good thread for anyone wondering what planet they are looking at.

To start things off, have a look in the west.
Venus and mars are close to each other and look pretty good in the evening sky.

Carawaystick · 19-02-2015 11:08PM

Jupiter is left of Orion, and of course there's the blue planet, visible every day...
so thats half of em...

greedygoblin · 20-02-2015 06:33PM

There's an impressive looking crescent moon near Venus this evening. And at around 7:15 pm the ISS will be passing nearby also.

shedweller · 20-02-2015 06:47PM

The moon just might be visible low on the horizon. Very thin crescent.

Edit. Good man greedygoblin. Way ahead!
Edit2: the moon will be above venus and mars tomorrow evening and the crescent will be thicker. Clear skies!

HobbyMan · 20-02-2015 07:02PM

Is that the ISS just below Venus?

greedygoblin · 20-02-2015 07:45PM

HobbyMan wrote: »

Is that the ISS just below Venus?

No. Venus is the bright looking "star" above and to the left of the moon. And just a little bit above Venus is Mars.

The ISS moved rapidy across the sky between 7:16 and 7:22 to the right of the moon. It will be visible again tomorrow evening between 8:01 and 8:03 pm, but much lower in the sky.

HobbyMan · 20-02-2015 08:30PM

greedygoblin wrote: »

No. Venus is the bright looking "star" above and to the left of the moon. And just a little bit above Venus is Mars.

The ISS moved rapidy across the sky between 7:16 and 7:22 to the right of the moon. It will be visible again tomorrow evening between 8:01 and 8:03 pm, but much lower in the sky.

Yes, I saw Venus and Mars but there was also a fairly bright star below Venus. Do you know the name of that star?

greedygoblin · 20-02-2015 09:34PM

HobbyMan wrote: »

Yes, I saw Venus and Mars but there was also a fairly bright star below Venus. Do you know the name of that star?

Can't say I saw it Hobbyman. Had a look at Google Sky Maps there and the closest star I see is Diphda in the constellation of Cetus.

If you download that or Stellarium, you can use the time travel feature to look at the sky as it was around the time you were looking up.

HobbyMan · 20-02-2015 10:49PM

greedygoblin wrote: »

Can't say I saw it Hobbyman. Had a look at Google Sky Maps there and the closest star I see is Diphda in the constellation of Cetus.

If you download that or Stellarium, you can use the time travel feature to look at the sky as it was around the time you were looking up.

That's a strange one. I just looked on Stellarium and couldn't see anything under Venus at +- 7pm. Yet I did see a brightish 'star' hence my asking in the above post if its the ISS.

Maybe it was a satellite? It didn't seem to be moving. Will check again tomorrow.

greedygoblin · 21-02-2015 12:42AM

I did a bit of digging HobbyMan, and I came up with the following:

At 19:08ish Ajisai (EGS) passed essentially through Venus, travelling from right to left.
Around much the same time, NOAA 15 travelled from left to right beneath Venus, skimming the underside of the moon.

Possible candidates!

greedygoblin · 21-02-2015 12:57AM

This one is probably more for the night-owls, but Saturn should be visible later tonight. It's due to rise in the south-eastern sky around 3am.

shedweller · 21-02-2015 01:02AM

greedygoblin wrote: »

This one is probably more for the night-owls, but Saturn should be visible later tonight. It's due to rise in the south-eastern sky around 3am.

That'll be me! Damn night shift..

HobbyMan · 21-02-2015 03:16AM

shedweller wrote: »

That'll be me! Damn night shift..

And me. Damn kids!

shedweller · 21-02-2015 06:05PM

Venus is visible there now if anyone has a strong telescope they will get a nice view of it. The moon is also looking well and would be a nice thing for your kids to look at through binos etc.
Mars should become visible later too. The reddish colour was very apparent the other night as well.

Bongalongherb · 21-02-2015 07:07PM

I just took a recording using a video camera there. A bit low down for the telescope as the bushes are in the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGjD2mxwOW4

shedweller · 21-02-2015 07:51PM

Nice video. I think the bushes add something to the shot. Very atmospheric!

ZeRoY · 22-02-2015 12:40AM

A shot from earlier, was a great conjunction, missed the ISS somewhat, bad timing...

Bongalongherb · 22-02-2015 12:55AM

An excellent shot you got there. Very nice indeed.

Knifey Spoony · 24-02-2015 06:34AM

If anyone is up now, Saturn is visible as a pale yellow point directly to the South.

HobbyMan · 26-02-2015 08:45PM

Venus and Mars were definitely closer to the earth this evening. You could easily see Mars, and its red colour, with the naked eye this evening.

Would like to go out and look at the stars now but the cloud is back again.

Maximus Alexander · 26-02-2015 09:23PM

You can always see Mars and its red colour with the naked eye, as long as it's above the horizon and not obscured by the sun or clouds.

HobbyMan · 26-02-2015 10:41PM

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

You can always see Mars and its red colour with the naked eye, as long as it's above the horizon and not obscured by the sun or clouds.

It was fairly difficult to see night before last. My wife didn't see it unless she used binoculars. Maybe visibility was just bad that night.

Maximus Alexander · 26-02-2015 11:20PM

HobbyMan wrote: »

It was fairly difficult to see night before last. My wife didn't see it unless she used binoculars. Maybe visibility was just bad that night.

Mars should be naked eye visible even at its dimmest and under urban light pollution. Was there some light cloud maybe?

shedweller · 27-02-2015 01:35AM

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Mars should be naked eye visible even at its dimmest and under urban light pollution. Was there some light cloud maybe?

Patchy cloud cover alright. Still looked good though. I would sell my right arm for a large scope now!

shedweller · 23-03-2015 09:47PM

If anyone has binos or a telescope, get yourselves outside! The moon looks fantastic and the dark side is bright enough to barely make out larger details. Venus is more or less set now in the west although i could just make out its oblong shape earlier. Jupiter is quite high up now so is showing nicely. Its getting a bit bright for looking at andromeda in the north west due to moonlight and it is low too so atmospheric shtuff is going on, making it hard to make out anything.
My kids were with me also and learning a bit about right ascension and declination.
(As much as i could teach them anyway..!!)
They really enjoyed getting up close to the moon too and were fascinated at the gaps in the large crater walls.
All in all a lovely evening.

ThunderCat · 24-03-2015 10:59AM

shedweller wrote: »

If anyone has binos or a telescope, get yourselves outside! The moon looks fantastic and the dark side is bright enough to barely make out larger details. Venus is more or less set now in the west although i could just make out its oblong shape earlier. Jupiter is quite high up now so is showing nicely. Its getting a bit bright for looking at andromeda in the north west due to moonlight and it is low too so atmospheric shtuff is going on, making it hard to make out anything.
My kids were with me also and learning a bit about right ascension and declination.
(As much as i could teach them anyway..!!)
They really enjoyed getting up close to the moon too and were fascinated at the gaps in the large crater walls.
All in all a lovely evening.

Yea it was a lovely evening for it. I was looking at the moon with the 15x70's but the highlight for me was the Beehive Cluster just to the right of Jupiter.

hidinginthebush · 24-03-2015 11:09AM

I've been out the past few nights, after only starting with a telescope in the new year. Jupiter is always a favourite, I never fail to be impressed by it. Had a look a Venus for the first time on Sunday, I was very underwhelmed by it sadly. Understandable as it's not a gas giant.
From where I'm based I never seem to be able to get Andromeda, it's due West from me, but so low, and obscured by city lights that I haven't been able to get a look at it yet.

coylemj · 24-03-2015 12:31PM

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Had a look a Venus for the first time on Sunday, I was very underwhelmed by it sadly. Understandable as it's not a gas giant.

Understandable? By who? It's not a gas giant but it's covered in clouds, it goes through phases and it's the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. What exactly were you expecting?

Thargor · 24-03-2015 01:35PM

I was thinking the dark side of the moon looked very "bright" the last couple of nights myself, it had a very 3D spherical look to it yesterday evening.

hidinginthebush · 24-03-2015 01:54PM

Well understandable by me in the sense that with Jupiter you can see the different colour bands, and moons. TBH I wasn't expecting a huge amount from it, I was really looking at it as it was early enough in the night but still very bright in the sky. I'll spend a bit more time on it when it's up, because, in my own experience, the more time you spend gazing at objects the better and more interesting they become.

coylemj · 24-03-2015 03:57PM

Thargor wrote: »

I was thinking the dark side of the moon looked very "bright" the last couple of nights myself, it had a very 3D spherical look to it yesterday evening.

The air must have been very clear the other night (Mar 22nd) in Dublin because even with a streetlight almost in the same direction, I could clearly see the dark side of the moon with the naked eye.

It helps that at the time of the Spring Equinox, the Ecliptic describes a steep angle to the horizon in the evening so angular separation from the Sun converts to good elevation above the horizon - very useful when it comes to observing the crescent Moon and Venus.

shedweller · 24-03-2015 04:56PM

From researching filters it seems there are one or two made for improving cloud contrast on venus. You'd need good power to go with that as well. I was looking at a filter called fringe killer and if it works as advertised it may change my views of venus from an oblong blob with a red fringe on one side and a blue fringe on the other to something with a clear shape.
Or maybe not?? Still learning...

jfSDAS · 24-03-2015 06:16PM

shedweller wrote: »

it may change my views of venus from an oblong blob with a red fringe on one side and a blue fringe on the other to something with a clear shape.

Hi shedweller,

What scope are you using to observe Venus and what time of day/night? I don't own a telescope myself, being a binocular aficionado, but the colour fringing you describe is what I'd expect when Venus is quite low. You'll see its light smeared out into constituent rainbow colours because it is a bright source and shining through a thicker layer of atmosphere.

I've seen the (albeit tiny) crescent shape of Venus through 15x70mm binoculars when the apparent size of the disk was near one arc-minute. A telescope should show the various phases far better than binoculars can.

The planet's brightness means that the best views of any features in the cloud layers are gained when you observe in either daylight or bright twilight when Venus is higher in the sky and the contrast is much improved. The danger of observing in daylight is that you could accidentally sweep up the Sun in the field of view of your instrument, so most people will use setting circles to zero in on a planet in daylight.

John

shedweller · 24-03-2015 07:14PM

Nice one! I'm using a bresser r-102 f/10. Decent scope in fairness. I was looking at venus last night around 19:00- 20:00 so venus was low. The atmosphere wasn't helping for sure. I hadn't thought of observing earlier so i may give that a shot. Thanks.
I spent a little time removing the ra worm today. The grease was dry so i put some new stuff in there. While i was there i noticed a tiny bit of play in the main ra axis. Being a fixer of machines this bothers me no end now! I'll read up on whats involved. I spent quite a while calibrating the polar scope so im loathe to undo all that.

I have a pair of celestron 15x70 binos and they are really good at bringing in the light. Andromeda looked better in them than my 100mm telescope now! Some say its to do with both eyes working together. I've seen some bonkers bino telescopes in the states that would do very nicely! **sigh**

Looking like clear skies again tonight too. The showers have the air lovely and clear. Her indoors might be texting me to come in.....she may wait!

ThunderCat · 25-03-2015 10:42AM

shedweller wrote: »

Nice one! I'm using a bresser r-102 f/10. Decent scope in fairness. I was looking at venus last night around 19:00- 20:00 so venus was low. The atmosphere wasn't helping for sure. I hadn't thought of observing earlier so i may give that a shot. Thanks.
I spent a little time removing the ra worm today. The grease was dry so i put some new stuff in there. While i was there i noticed a tiny bit of play in the main ra axis. Being a fixer of machines this bothers me no end now! I'll read up on whats involved. I spent quite a while calibrating the polar scope so im loathe to undo all that.

I have a pair of celestron 15x70 binos and they are really good at bringing in the light. Andromeda looked better in them than my 100mm telescope now! Some say its to do with both eyes working together. I've seen some bonkers bino telescopes in the states that would do very nicely! **sigh**

Looking like clear skies again tonight too. The showers have the air lovely and clear. Her indoors might be texting me to come in.....she may wait!

Just like jfSDAS I also prefer using bins to look at the night sky, although I do have a telescope too. I've often wondered about the bino viewers. What did you think of them?

shedweller · 25-03-2015 10:49AM

They are fairly good although there is a bit of abberation on bright planets. Deep sky stuff looks really rich though and combined with a tripod they give great views of the sky. I can only imagine what the sky looks like in a big fast dobsonian made for rich field work. Need to get a shine job done on my eyes! Haha!

jfSDAS · 25-03-2015 12:05PM

shedweller wrote: »

I've seen some bonkers bino telescopes in the states that would do very nicely! **sigh**

So true! I've been at the RTMC AstroExpo in Riverside, California, a few times and seen home-made 20-inch binoculars! Essentially they are two Dobsonian telescopes side-by-side with the eye-piece focusing mechanisms rebuilt to enable two eye viewing. You observe with your back to the sky though, the same as with the JMI big binoculars. I'd love one of the new APM 100mm APO binoculars that enable eyepieces to be interchanged but can only dream

Binoculars are excellent for extended objects like the Andromeda Galaxy. When you magnify the view in a telescope eye-piece you are smearing out the object's light that bit more, so paradoxically it can sometimes appear dimmer. It's all to do with a deep-sky object's surface brightness -- in other words, the per square arc-minute or arc-second magnitude versus its quoted magnitude. Paul Markov has a nice article on the subject at http://www.astrobuysell.com/paul/sb.htm while a much longer discussion is at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/secrets-of-deep-sky-observing/

In my 25x100mm binoculars the Andromeda Galaxy shows a dark lane cutting across the upper edge of the galaxy, while its two companions are nicely shown too. They are all still smudges of light in the eyepiece but amazing to see such distant sights. The big binoculars give a very nice view of the brighter members of the Virgo cluster at this time of year but necessitate a hefty tripod mount.

John

Thargor · 25-03-2015 12:47PM

I love binocular telescopes aswell, I always have the "Post a pic of your telescope" threads over on Cloudy nights open in a tab to drool over at work, the home made/ATM threads especially, ah to have the free space at home that some Americans have

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/404751-post-your-home-made-scope/

jfSDAS · 25-03-2015 01:10PM

Here's the 20-inch binoculars from the RTMC ... some other images of the RTMC scopes, etc at https://www.flickr.com/photos/92397104@N00/sets/72157600866302198/

Cloudy Nights is an excellent site to hang-out on Thargor. I tend to just look at the Stellar Media forum as well as DSLR astrophotography. The ease of access in the US to places like Surplus Shed, Edmund Scientifics, swap meets at star parties, etc, means that it is so much easier get the materials for home-made instruments.

coylemj · 25-03-2015 03:52PM

The photos above remind me that Yuji Hyakutake who discovered the comet of 1996 had a pretty decent set of binos - 25 x 150 ...

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/how-yuji-hyakutake-found-his-comet/

mickmackey1 · 25-03-2015 11:03PM

coylemj wrote: »

Yuji Hyakutake who discovered the comet of 1996...

His widow was quoted as saying he died young from too many late nights spent searching for comets... what a hero

shedweller · 06-04-2015 07:16PM

Venus is visible this evening. Showing a gibbous crescent.
Jupiter has one of its moons casting its shadow and the red spot is visible also!

coylemj · 06-04-2015 10:36PM

shedweller wrote: »

Venus is visible this evening. Showing a gibbous crescent.

'Gibbous crescent' is an oxymoron.

Less than half the disc visible = crescent
More than half the disc visible = gibbous

Venus is currently 1.168 AU distant (i.e. it's further from Earth than the Sun) which means it's showing a gibbous phase. It will reach it's greatest eastern elongation (maximum angular separation from the Sun) on June 6th when it will appear as a semicircle, after that it will be a crescent.

shedweller · 07-04-2015 07:24AM

Haha!
Its a bit like PIN number! Or doing the hoovering...

shedweller · 12-05-2015 10:42PM

In case anyone has a clear patch of sky and is wondering what that bright "star" is in the west.
It's Venus and is half lit or at quarter phase.
Jupiter is in the southwest and saturn will be along after midnight if there isnt a massive layer of cloud spoiling our fun!
I was up late last week watching saturn and could just make out the cassini division. When saturn gets higher later in the year there will be more opportunities to see it. (I know it feckin gets higher as the night goes on but im not staying up till three or four!!)

shedweller · 12-05-2015 11:45PM

I am looking at saturn now and i have to say, the air is very still. I can make out titan, rhea and enceladus! Yay!

A while ago there were two satellites passing east and west. I could really see the difference in speed between the two! Like, i know the westward bound one has to go faster but i didnt think it could be easily seen.
Ok freezing now. School run in the morning!

rolion · 14-05-2015 09:14AM

shedweller wrote: »

In case anyone has a clear patch of sky and is wondering what that bright "star" is in the west.
It's Venus and is half lit or at quarter phase.
Jupiter is in the southwest and saturn will be along after midnight if there isnt a massive layer of cloud spoiling our fun!
I was up late last week watching saturn and could just make out the cassini division. When saturn gets higher later in the year there will be more opportunities to see it. (I know it feckin gets higher as the night goes on but im not staying up till three or four!!)

shedweller wrote: »

I am looking at saturn now and i have to say, the air is very still. I can make out titan, rhea and enceladus! Yay!

A while ago there were two satellites passing east and west. I could really see the difference in speed between the two! Like, i know the westward bound one has to go faster but i didnt think it could be easily seen.
Ok freezing now. School run in the morning!

Lads...on what part of the planet are you living as I had only clouds and rain here for the past week, full week hmmm !!!

Huntergonzo · 14-05-2015 09:40AM

shedweller wrote: »

I am looking at saturn now and i have to say, the air is very still. I can make out titan, rhea and enceladus! Yay!

A while ago there were two satellites passing east and west. I could really see the difference in speed between the two! Like, i know the westward bound one has to go faster but i didnt think it could be easily seen.
Ok freezing now. School run in the morning!

Do you know much about telescopes, I could use some help? I've only very recently got a telescope and I know very little about how to use it. I've looked at the moon and seen small craters (which was great for a first timer I have to say) but when I look at objects like Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and Sirius etc they all look largely the same even when I adjust magnification.

What I mean by that is they're all largely grayish in colour with minor variations (Sirius flickers much more for example) and I can't make out any moons or Saturns rings. Would this simply be down to the strength of the telescope (Bresser f700mm, 70mm), the eyepiece I'm using (H20mm) or am I just doing something stupid or is it a combination of the lot?

shedweller · 14-05-2015 05:12PM

Well, the most magnification i can comfortably have is 100x.
Thats with a 1000/100 telescope.
You'll have a max somwhere less than this but not much. Probably 70x??
At 100x i can just make out the great red spot on jupiter and the cassini division on saturn.
You mentioned having a 20mm eyepiece so this will give 35x magnification which is less than ideal for resolving detail on jupiter but is great for looking at the moon for example.
It would frame galaxies well but at 70mm aperature they will barely be visible. My 100mm aperature barely showed me the pinwheel galaxy the other night and im hankering for more aperature now. 400mm would be very nice indeed!

Mickeroo · 16-05-2015 11:09PM

Very bright object in the western sky this evening at around 10:30, any ideas guys? Thought it was the ISS but pulled in and it didn't seem to be moving as fast as that usually does. Venus maybe? Seemed a bit too bright to me for that though.

Mountainsandh · 16-05-2015 11:14PM

Ok, looking to the West I see two very bright stars, one higher more South/West-ish,then in a much lower position towards North West another very bright one. In between I see two dimmer stars that are in an almost perfectly horizontal line pretty much slap bang west (Northish if anything).
The above would have been at 23.32 pm tonight, checked the time because I also saw something that was as bright as the space station going from the really bright star high up Southwest (it was as bright as that star too) towards the North. Very short observation time, maybe 30 seconds, very similar to an ISS pass, no obvious flaring or trail, disappeared or flamed out without fuss.

Thought it might have been iridium flare but I don't see anything listed on heavens above.
Not used to satellites in that direction either.

I'm on Kindle so no access to apps to find out what stars were for a start.
Any ideas ?
Thanks

Am in South East, Knockmealdowns area.

Catching up with thread a bit, could be Venus and Jupiter ?

Edit : found an article, think I was looking at Jupiter, Pollux and Castor, and Venus to my right as I was looking West. Didn't see the cluster mentioned in article, but satellite or meteor was going from just below Jupiter towards Pollux&C, South to North, and vanished somewhere above Venus.
Article http://earthsky.org/tonight/brilliant-jupiter-your-guide-to-the-beehive-star-cluster

What planets are visible this evening?

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