Date Time: July 2nd, 2015 2230hrs to 2300hrs.
Weather: Slight breeze, partly cloudy to very cloudy, 14C not much dew and not many bugs.
Attendance: Ed O and Myself.
Equipment: Eds' 15x70 binoculars and tripod mounted digital camera. My Canon Rebel DSLR with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses and tripod.
Objective: To view and image the Venus/Jupiter conjunction. They are now separating after their closest encounter on June 30.
Report:
The conjunction was clear and bright enough to stand out and be seen as I was driving to Eds house around 2225hrs. From 2230hrs to 2300hrs Ed and I moved around to continue observing as it was getting low and into trees and houses. The Moons of Jupiter were hard to see on this evening.
First thing done was to measure the separation between the two planets. This was done with a finger held out at arms distance. Ed thought it was 70% the width of his finger and I figured it to be 80% the width of mine(holding the finger up to the conjunction and measuring how much of the finger was between the two planets). So in two nights, they have moved about 0.5 Degrees apart. For comparison, later on, we determined that the Full Moon was about a half a finger width!
Not many clouds were in the sky at 2230hrs, especially in the west. By 2300hrs the sky was mostly covered in clouds.
Mizar, the naked eye double star in Ursa Major was imaged, with most of the big constellation covered in clouds.
A 'Full Buck' Moon was shining brightly, until clouds started moving in around 2300hrs. At that point, it still could be seen through the thin clouds, but most other stars were washed out.
No shooting stars or satellites were seen.
Images:
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| Mizar and Alcor imaged with Canon Rebel Xsi and 300mm lens. |
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