All day long I was watching the sky. A nice color of blue with a couple clouds drifting through. I wasn’t so much worried about how it looked then, I was thinking about the evening! I still hadn’t seen the two giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn. They had a very close conjunction on the 21st of the month. Pittsburgh weather had hidden the grouping from me and other astronomy fans in the surrounding states.
The shot above was taken by a Pittsburgh astronomer Alexis Kwasinski who drove about 425 miles to get a clear shot of the conjunction. Now that is devotion to a hobby! The picture was taken through his Celestron Schmidt Cassigrain Telescope. The planets were a tenth of a degree apart. To give an example of a degree, holding your finger out at arms length is one degree. The planets were 1/10th of that distance.
In actuality, the planets were about 450 million miles apart! Their orbits had lined up with ours to provide this rare viewing. The last time the pair were this close and observable was in 1226! The next time will be in 2080, so mark your calendars! Knowing the weather in Pittsburgh, I won’t be holding my breath! I’ve been through this before!
During the day (12/29) Ann Marie and I had taken a drive and did a couple geocaches. When we got home we busied ourselves working on a jigsaw puzzle. It was an Escher print so my mind was concentrating on the pieces rather than the weather outside.
The sun was due to set around 5 and when I looked outside, there was still blue in the sky! The clouds had stayed away! I left the house about a half hour before sunset. Ann Marie decided to stay home and work on the puzzle, probably a good idea considering how cold I was when I got home. I headed up to Sharps Hill, overtop of the Sharpsburg flats. I would’ve liked to get a shot of the planets over the city but I had checked to see where they would be setting and I couldn’t see a good spot where I could line everything up. I decided that seeing the planets was the most important thing. Whatever happened would be great.
I also thought about taking my telescope along and after I saw the pair I wished I would have. Still, with the temperature dropping as the night got darker and the cloud bank in the west it was probably for the best. I also ended up in a cemetery and they often frown on people setting up their telescopes over top of the graves!
Originally I went to the edge of Sharps Hill, overlooking Etna, Rt.28 and the city. The sun was just setting and I grabbed a few shots of it as it went down. Then I took out my binoculars and started scanning back and forth for Jupiter. There was a large cloud bank right above the horizon which worried me a bit. There were also a lot of young trees and bushes that were crowding into my shots. I decided that since the planets wouldn’t be visible for a few more minutes, I’d move my base of operations to the near-by cemetery. A short drive and I was on top of a hill of graves. It was just me, the bones and the cold wind.
I set up the camera and tripod and took out the binoculars. I located Jupiter almost immediately. With-in a few minutes Saturn appeared in my glasses. I believe the pair was about a degree apart. I pointed the camera and took a few shots and then I turned around and took a couple shots of the full moon behind me. I could see the haze in the air when I looked at the moon.
I took a few more pictures of the planets and then a couple of the city since it was just sitting there…just waiting for me to take it’s picture...and then I packed up and headed home.
I could see the planets as I drove home but nearing my house they were hidden from view by the hillside in my neighborhood. I carried my stuff inside and made some coffee to warm me up and joined AMB in putting a few more pieces in the puzzle.
The pictures weren’t great and if it isn’t noted, no one would know what they were a picture of. Still, I finally saw the conjunction, after 8 days but they still were close. I saw them and that was the important thing! I won’t have to wait until 2080 to see them close like this again! (As if I’d even be around then…) It was a great day, the weather held out for me. Not only that but I was on vacation, there was no work to worry about! Yes, it was a good day!
Here’s
looking forward to a Happy, Clear New Year! Good luck in all your searches!
