Category: Naked eye

Captivating Conjunction

Moon venus and Jupiter

Moon, Venus and Jupiter Conjuction
By Carlos E. Hernandez

Moon, Venus, and Jupiter

On February 5, 2008 (11:35 U.T.) I was able to view a very thin Waning Crescent Moon (27.9 days old) visible floating above (~5 degrees) a lavender cloud covered southeastern horizon. Venus was a very bright beacon (-3.97m) 12.2 degrees southwest of the Moon. Jupiter was a bright pastel orange-white star (~-1.87m) 4.0 degrees southwest of Venus. The southeast horizon exhibited pastel yellow to orange colors. I hope that others were able to view this pairing as well.

A digital image produced in Corel Painter X.

Milky Way in Cassiopeia

Milky Way in Cassiopeia

The Milky Way in Cassiopeia
By Rony De Laet

 This is a lawn chair observation of the Milky Way passing through Cassiopeia. The view was so beautiful that I wanted to capture it in a sketch. I studied the region for about 20 minutes before sketching. North is right in the sketch. The two patches on top of the view are the double cluster in Perseus. I tried to simulate the glow of the Milky Way as it crossed this mighty constellation.

Location : Bischofshofen, Austria
Date:  Dec. 25, 2006 , 21.00UT
Seeing:  4 on a scale of 5, Transparency : 4, Nelm : 5.1
Scope : naked eye