Moon and Venus tonight

[vjp]

Totally O.T., but if you enjoy astronomical pairings, the thin crescent Moon will join up with Venus this evening after sunset, forming a pretty close conjunction (about 1 1/2 degrees apart). Venus is especially bright right now, so it ought to make for a pretty sight.

You might also catch Mercury low in the western sky, shortly after sunset. Look about 20 degrees (two fist's widths) to the left of where the sun touched the horizon at sunset. Mercury will be slightly to the right of the 1st magnitude star Antares.

Has anyone else here been watching Mars lately? I have been watching it in my 5" refractor, but the lousy seeing, plus the current major dust storm on Mars, have limited my ability to see much.

 

[Pippen]

I've been out every morning and every evening during October. Unfortunately I don't have a scope but the view with the naked eye is still well worth taking in. I wish I had a telescope!

I've been making sure the kids get a peek too. The other night when we first spotted Venus I asked my 7 year old whether it was a planet or a star and she just gave me her answer in that tone that said *of course* she knew it was a planet. Then she started humming the old Venus song.

 

[rbeckey]

It was a perfect night for a fire. We checked out the moon and Venus before they went down. Very cool.

 

[graylensman]

caught a glimpse of Luna and Venus. Very pretty!

I've been keeping tabs on Mars, though I live at the bottom of a tree-infested hill. When we get better viewing, I'm going to try looking through binoculars - our telescope needs some tlc from someone who really knows their way around one.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

The next few nights are also a good time to watch for fireball meteors. The Taurids peak between November 5th and November 12th. It's not a major shower but the few meteors it produces are supposed to be pretty flashy this year. Even before the peak, there's been reports of Taurid meteors that were brighter than a full moon.

 

[highrolla7]

I was out looking at Mars a couple of nights ago. So, far I am not very impressed. I am using my meade lx90 schmit cass scope and I could see a darker band, but nothing like it looked back in '03. There were very large ice caps etc. Maybe im just catching the wrong side, but just not as "impressive" as it was a couple years ago. Anyway, will be out again the next clear night, mars wont be like this for some time now!!

 

[vjp]

Yeah, I haven't seen much detail either this apparition. Mostly it's the dust storm, I think. The polar cap seems to have evaporated for now, too, but that's a seasonal thing.

Keep looking though, dust storms don't last forever and things might settle down soon.

Ray - I saw two Taurids just a few minutes apart the other night, and I wasn't even trying. They were unusually slow and short-lived, but that may be status quo for Taurids (I'm not really a seasoned meteor watcher). There have been reports of bright fireballs coming in from all over the world, the past few days.