Crescent Moon and Venus Conjunction: November 26, 2011: The Pictures

As we posted this past Thanksgiving, Venus and the Moon did conjunct and the display was spectacular! Below is a collection of our favorite pictures provided by SpaceWeather.com; they wrote, "When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. Venus and the 5% crescent Moon are in conjunction. The two bright celestial bodies look fantastic beaming through the twilight only 3 degrees apart. It's a nice way to end the day." [Each picture is copyright whoever photographed it].

Thanks to Mohammad Mehdi Asgari

The above photograph was taken in Iran; this conjunction was worldwide noted, as the below picture is from Japan, specifically Hatoyama, Saitama, Japan. Taken by Mitsuo Muraoka. Beneath that, we have from Batet de la Serra, Girona, Catalonia, Spain, Francesc Pruneda's image of the conjunction. "This image was taken with a compact camera Sony DSC-T10 during the Amateur Girona Star party in Batet de la Serra, Girona Spain."

The next image is by Erica Rix from Zanesville, Ohio, US. She wrote, "It was quite a treat just after sunset to view not only the Moon at just 1.71 days old (only 4% illumination) but also to have it only 3° apart from Venus. Mercury was just below the horizon and under the Moon by 1808 EST/2308 UT at the time I took this photo from my front yard looking to the west/southwest. You can just make out the orange-tinted earthshine on the Moon and Venus is shining brilliantly."

The next pictures are a set by David Blanchard, as he wrote: "Very clear skies provided excellent viewing conditions for a conjunction of Venus and the Moon." Robert T. Smith follows the two by David Blanchard.

Adrian New took the next photo, saying: "Thanks to Spaceweather for the reminder of tonights conjunction of the Moon and Venus. It was a beautiful sight near the historic St. Louis Catholic Church built in 1870. Photo taken with a Nikon D200 @ISO 200 and a 1/4 second exposure."

The Largest Partial Solar Eclipse of 2011: November 25 Eclipse Results

The Results are in! And yes, this eclipse was a success! Thousands of images have been pouring in on the web and I have chosen the best for Astronomical Events Calendar. The November 25, 2011 Partial-Solar Eclipse was the longest of its kind for 2011, yet 2012 brings us a rare annular eclipse among others. [The Text below was taken from the hyperlink article above].

Belonging to Saros 123, this eclipse will be seen over New Zealand, the tip of Africa, and of course Antarctica, while the greatest eclipse occurs at 06:20:17 UT with a magnitude of 0.905 near the coast of Antarctica at latitude -68° 34.1’, longitude +82° 24’. It starts at 04:23:14 UT, and ends at 08:17:16 UT.

The following picture was taken by Bonar Carson from Dunedin, New Zealand. "Partial solar eclipse from Dunedin, New Zealand. Photographed before it peaked as the clouds rolled in and blocked it from being visible at peak."

 

Mike Nicholson photographed the event about two minutes before sunset from Otaki Beach, NZ (above), "We were experiencing gale force Sou'westerlies when I took the picture. Low clouds plus flying salt and sand provided a natural filter to reduce the glare of the sun." The next picture was taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by "James," as he records: "I used Astro Physics 105mm Traveller and Nikon D7000 to capture some shots of the recent solar partial eclipse. There was some overcasted cloud to block the view at the first contact. Luckily, I got the better view at the final stage. But it had the optical distortion affected by the atmospheric turbulence at low horizon during the sunset."

If you know of any other pictures of this eclipse, please SUBMIT them to Spaceweather.com; as we would all like to enjoy them. [All images are not property of Astronomical Events Calendar - they have been taken from Spaceweather.com and are copyright the name above (for each picture)]. 

Crescent Moon and Venus Conjunction: November 26, 2011

"When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. Venus and the 5% crescent Moon are in conjunction. The two bright celestial bodies look fantastic beaming through the twilight only 3^o apart. It's a nice way to end the day," Spaceweather.com advises. This conjunction of the moon and Venus will be very lovely, as you should see for yourself that night.

Simultaneous Planetary Transit: Mercury Transits Jupiter

Simultaneous astronomical planetary phenomena are rare spectacles only for those with pure, theoretical interest in astronomy becasue of the rarities and 'abstract' thought concerning it. Yes, we here on earth have and will experience transits of planets (only two, respectively Mercury and Venus), but Jupiter and the other planets have a better variety, with Neptune having the cadence of them all! Jupiter is able to see Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars transit the surface of the Sun, and it is an incredible finding that we were able to discern it!

On November 28, 2011, the planet Mercury will transit the face of the Sun, as seen only by Jupiter. But how can this be?, after all, we cannot even see it. Because the synodic period (orbital period) of each planet is 89.792 days, a formula can be calculated to determine such events, as shown below. P represents the sidereal orbital period of Mercury (which is respectively 87.968435 days) and Q represents the orbital period of Jupiter (respectively 4330.595 days). If we plug them into the equation we achieve these:

 

Now, of course, these simultaneous planetary transits are not very recent; below is the title of an article publish by the Royal Astronomical Society in 1886, Note on the Transit of the Planet Mars and its Satellites across the Sun’s disc, which will occur for the Planet Jupiter and its Satellites on April 13, 1886. It can be accessed here. Below is some general information about the transit, i.e., where will the planet pass and what coordinates will the sun be relative to Jupiter, etc.

Passage of Mercury across the Sun as seen from Jupiter

Transits of Mercury from Jupiter: 2005-2100
December 25, 2005	September 5, 2053
March 26, 2006	May 10, 2059
November 28, 2011	August 8, 2059
February 26, 2012	June 23, 2065
January 12, 2018	February 26, 2071
September 17, 2023	May 27, 2071
December 15, 2023	April 11, 2077
October 31, 2029	December 16, 2082
July 6, 2035	March 15, 2083
October 3, 2035	January 28, 2089
August 18, 2041	April 29, 2089
November 17, 2041	January 1, 2095
July 22, 2047	November 17, 2100
June 6, 2053

This is a rather central transit; as you see in the yellow Sun above with the path of Mercury, Mercury passes right through the center. February 26, 2011's transit (other link above) passes at the very top of the Sun. Therefore, this transit is rather rare.

Recent and Upcoming Transits

AD  2011 Nov 28  20:51 C     Transit of Mercury on Jupiter
    AD  2011 Dec 30  16:46 G     Transit of Mercury on Saturn 
    AD  2012 Feb 26  04:38 G     Transit of Mercury on Jupiter
    AD  2012 Mar 28  12:20 C     Transit of Mercury on Saturn 
    AD  2012 May 06  11:34 C     Transit of Venus on Saturn   
    AD  2012 Jun 06  01:31 C     Transit of Venus on Earth    
    AD  2012 Jun 25  08:10 C     Transit of Mercury on Saturn 
    AD  2012 Sep 20  09:54 C     Transit of Venus on Jupiter  
    AD  2012 Sep 22  04:16 C     Transit of Mercury on Saturn 

Partial Solar Eclipse for November 25, 2011

It's the last eclipse of the 2011 Solar Eclipse season; make it meaningful. November 25, 2011 will bring us another partial solar eclipse, and this time over Antarctica, so a plethora of images won't come in. The moon will obscure 90.5% of the sun, making it a very good partial solar eclipse, so this should be picture-worthy if only we had photographers who lived in Antarctica. Yes, the July 1, 2011 eclipse was the same (no-one will be in the location of the eclipse), but nonetheless that eclipse did not block out so much sun as this eclipse will. NASA! Eclipse Webpage.

 

Belonging to Saros 123, this eclipse will be seen over New Zealand, the tip of Africa, and of course Antarctica, while the greatest eclipse occurs at 06:20:17 UT with a magnitude of 0.905 near the coast of Antarctica at latitude -68° 34.1’, longitude +82° 24’. It starts at 04:23:14 UT, and ends at 08:17:16 UT. For pure theoretical interest; "This is the 53rd eclipse of Saros 123. The family began with 6 partial eclipses from the years 1074 to 1164. By the time the series ends in 2318, it will have produced 70 eclipses in the following order: 6 partial, 27 annular, 3 hybrid, 14 total, and 20 partial eclipses. Complete details for Saros 123 can be found here." (Thanks to NASA)

Let the Eclipse Begin!
DEFECTUS INCIPIAT!