Astroblog: Conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter 4-7 October

Monday, October 03, 2005

Conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter 4-7 October

Spica, Mercury and Jupiter line up with the star Spica on Wednesday 5 October just above the western horizon after the start of twilight. Mercury is between Spica and Jupiter, but is unlabeled to avoid cluttering the image

Over the next few days, Spica, Mercury, Jupiter and the moon will be in close proximity. The bad news is that they will be very close to the horizon, around 5 degrees (just under one handspan) at civil twilight (18:25 AEST, 18:45 ACST, 18:45 AWST) when the planets will be visible, so you will need a level, unobstructed western horizon to see this event. This afternoon I went out to have a look, Mercury was not visible, and Jupiter barely cleared the housetops. I'll have to go down the beach to see this.

Tuesday, 4 Oct Spica, Mercury and Jupiter form a shallow triangle with the one-day old crescent Moon just below them.

Wednesday, 5 Oct Spica, Mercury and Jupiter form a straight line with the two-day old crescent Moon above them.

Thursday, 6 Oct Spica, Mercury and Jupiter form a narrow triangle, with Mercury above Jupiter.

Friday, 7 Oct Spica, Mercury and Jupiter form a triangle, with Mercury above Jupiter. The Moon is one degree (one fingerwidth, or two lunar diameters) from Venus,

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:23 pm

Comments:

Got a nice clear night and no scope, but I'll take a look anyway. Maybe even try the SLR. Actually I do have the little scope, hmmmm.

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:09 am

Any luck. So far I have been clouded out. Last night most of the sky was clear, except the western horizon. GRRRR. Might get something tonight I hope.

# posted by