[ValleyNature] A galileo Moment Opportunity

[Larry Bogan]

I agree with Roy ... thanks for the heads up on Jupiter-Neptune passage.

I was up at 4 am on the Wednesday morning to see the geometry of the 
conjunction.  I only had 52x in my 102mm Maksutov so I could not see the 
disc of Neptune which is only 2" of arc in diameter but had Jupiter, 
(41" dia, with its four satellites nicely stretched out with two on each 
side) plus 5th magnitude star mu Capricorni in a right angle
     + Neptune

++O++          + mu Cap
My field of view was 45' arc and all three were visible. Roy you must 
have had a wideangle short focal length eyepiece in use to get that 
field at that power.  I must admit, not seeing the disc of Neptune in 
same view reduced my ability to visual two planet in the same direction 
but at vastly different distances. Jupiter was 4.8 AU while Neptune was 
30 AU away but nearly aligned in the same direction. I

There is still a chance to see them close on Monday morning, Jupiter 
will only be a little farther east. They will also pass again around 
July 10 as Jupiter moves in the retrograde part of its path.  There is a 
third pass in December but then the sun is in that part of the sky. 
Incidently, if you search Jupiter-Neptune Conjunction on the internet, 
you will get most pages on Astrology. It seem the astrologers put some 
importance on these passages.
 
Cheers,
Larry

Roy Bishop wrote:
> Hi Sherman,
>
> Here is my report of a "success". Thanks to you for the "heads up" 
> reminder, and chart.
>
> I had Jupiter and Neptune together in the same field at 152x this 
> morning, about 4:00 a.m. (I observed from 3:30 to 4:15 a.m., although 
> thin cloud obscured Neptune and dimmed Jupiter initially, until it 
> cleared off about 3:45 a.m.). Neptune was a small bluish disk. 
>  Neptune, Jupiter and mu Cap formed slightly less than a right-angle, 
> with Jupiter at the vertex. The three were visible in binoculars too 
> (10x42), until about 4:15 a.m. when dawn twilight began to make 
> Neptune difficult to see.
>
> While I was viewing the two planets together in the 152x field, a 
> Barred Owl was calling, making that special Galileo moment, extra special.
>
> I have not seen any other reports from this morning.
>
> Roy
>
>
>
> On 26-May-09, at 8:14 p.m., Sherman Williams wrote:
>
>> Here is a copy of a message I sent out to my nature list as a 
>> challenge observation.  Some of you RASCals may wish to be reminded 
>> or just in case you did not know about it:.
>> Sherman
>> *****************************
>> A unique Galileo Moment.  Some keen sky observers may be interested 
>> in this event , especially if you have a good pair of Binoculars 
>> and/or a small telescope, or better.  You may or may not think it's 
>> worth the early morning hour (about 4 a.m.). 
>>
>> The window of opportunity depends upon a clear eastern sky and is 
>> wedged between Jupiter and Neptune being high enough above the 
>> southeastern horizon and the brightening twilight still fairly dark. 
>>  The dim light of Neptune is the limiting factor (magnitude 7.9). 
>>  Under good conditions, Neptune can be seen in binoculars if one 
>> knows the reasonably detailed star pattern it is in.  Being less than 
>> 30' min. arc, one Moon diameter, from Jupiter  (about 24 minutes of 
>> arc), makes it easier to locate.  There is a chance that it may still 
>> be clear enough at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow May 27th) to make this observation.
>>
>> Jupiter was making a similarly close alignment with Neptune in 
>> 1612-1613 when Galileo  was tracking Jupiter's moons.  He did not 
>> realize that in some of his diagrams, he had recorded a planet whose 
>> existence had not yet been recognized.   It was to be another 234 
>> years (1864) before Neptune would be officially discovered. 
>>
>> I f the sky co-operates, here is a chance to log a super Galileo 
>> moment <http://www.astronomy2009.ca/>. <  http://www.astronomy2009.ca/  >
>>
>> At my website I have placed more information and some finser diagrams.
>>
>> My planet current location page  
>> < http://web.mac.com/sherm39/iWeb/Site/planets_what_where.html  >
>>
>> My main home page (unfortunately a bit slow for dialups)
>> <  http://web.mac.com/sherm39/iWeb/Site/home_page_nuv.html >
>>
>> I'll report how I make out tomorrow morning. I'd love to know about 
>> any other successes.
>> Sherman
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