Science is looking up

FYI for pretty cool night sky - Mars and Jupiter have been in conjunction the last few days, so they're very easy to see in the sky without any binoculars or scope of any kind. I made a stupid mistake last night, though, and almost missed them. My street faces northwest but bends to a more westerly direction gradually over about 5 miles. When I typically ride on the road, I head that way to avoid the greater traffic in the other direction (to the west of me is some farm land and low traffic roads.) So I unconsciously associate taking a left out of my driveway with "heading west", so when I went out last night I was looking in that direction and couldn't figure out why I wasn't seeing anything. When I realized my mistake, I knew why I was missing them - true west is blocked by trees on my property. But at the very back of our yard, it opens up for the neighborhood behind us. Sure enough, when I looked around the trees, there they were just above the horizon, Mars stacked on top of Jupiter (this was around 7:45 - I think their phases should shift if you are looking later at night so that Jupiter would be above Mars.) Both were super bright, with Mars being very red. I believe Venus is also very clearly visible over the next few days, but it's not as easy to pick up at a quick glance because Mars and Jupiter were just hanging there one almost right over the other.
 
1speed said:
FYI for pretty cool night sky - Mars and Jupiter have been in conjunction the last few days, so they're very easy to see in the sky without any binoculars or scope of any kind. I made a stupid mistake last night, though, and almost missed them. My street faces northwest but bends to a more westerly direction gradually over about 5 miles. When I typically ride on the road, I head that way to avoid the greater traffic in the other direction (to the west of me is some farm land and low traffic roads.) So I unconsciously associate taking a left out of my driveway with "heading west", so when I went out last night I was looking in that direction and couldn't figure out why I wasn't seeing anything. When I realized my mistake, I knew why I was missing them - true west is blocked by trees on my property. But at the very back of our yard, it opens up for the neighborhood behind us. Sure enough, when I looked around the trees, there they were just above the horizon, Mars stacked on top of Jupiter (this was around 7:45 - I think their phases should shift if you are looking later at night so that Jupiter would be above Mars.) Both were super bright, with Mars being very red. I believe Venus is also very clearly visible over the next few days, but it's not as easy to pick up at a quick glance because Mars and Jupiter were just hanging there one almost right over the other.
Click to expand...

You are confusing Venus with Mars. Venus is always the brightest planet visible and easiest to see. Right now Venus is very close to Jupiter. Mars is always dimmer.
 
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1speed said:
FYI for pretty cool night sky - Mars and Jupiter have been in conjunction the last few days, so they're very easy to see in the sky without any binoculars or scope of any kind. I made a stupid mistake last night, though, and almost missed them. My street faces northwest but bends to a more westerly direction gradually over about 5 miles. When I typically ride on the road, I head that way to avoid the greater traffic in the other direction (to the west of me is some farm land and low traffic roads.) So I unconsciously associate taking a left out of my driveway with "heading west", so when I went out last night I was looking in that direction and couldn't figure out why I wasn't seeing anything. When I realized my mistake, I knew why I was missing them - true west is blocked by trees on my property. But at the very back of our yard, it opens up for the neighborhood behind us. Sure enough, when I looked around the trees, there they were just above the horizon, Mars stacked on top of Jupiter (this was around 7:45 - I think their phases should shift if you are looking later at night so that Jupiter would be above Mars.) Both were super bright, with Mars being very red. I believe Venus is also very clearly visible over the next few days, but it's not as easy to pick up at a quick glance because Mars and Jupiter were just hanging there one almost right over the other.
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star walk 2 on your phone - amazing.

good showing tonight too.
Mars above the moon in the early evening sky - jupiter next to/occluded by the moon, venus below.
Rigel, Aldebaran & Betelgeuse are up there too -
 
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rick81721 said:
You are confusing Venus with Mars. Venus is always the brightest planet visible and easiest to see. Right now Venus is very close to Jupiter. Mars is always dimmer.
Click to expand...
You're right - I was. Venus and Jupiter were together. I had Mars on the brain because I just loved the red tint last night. That was the first time I've seen it that red without aid of a telescope.
 
Patrick said:
star walk 2 on your phone - amazing.

good showing tonight too.
Mars above the moon in the early evening sky - jupiter next to/occluded by the moon, venus below.
Rigel, Aldebaran & Betelgeuse are up there too -
Click to expand...

What day were you looking at? Moon is almost occluding Mars. Jupiter and Venus not even close.
 
rick81721 said:
What day were you looking at? Moon is almost occluding Mars. Jupiter and Venus not even close.
Click to expand...

Might have had the date wrong. Thought I had the 26th.
looking at it again, i can't find it.....
ugh - looks like i had the 23rd around 20:00

i've got no idea what day it is anymore.
cloudy out anyway.
 
Forgot to post this-

I saw one of these when I was up in New Paltz around the end of January-

www.nytimes.com

That Bright Flash in the Sky Came From Space (Published 2023)

An asteroid's explosion in the atmosphere lit up areas around the English Channel and as far away as the Netherlands on Monday.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Kinda freaked me out.
It looked just like the one in pic/vids, except it was dead vertical.

When I locked on and watched it, I was bracing to hear/feel the impact.
Never came though, lol
 
jmanic said:
Forgot to post this-

I saw one of these when I was up in New Paltz around the end of January-

www.nytimes.com

That Bright Flash in the Sky Came From Space (Published 2023)

An asteroid's explosion in the atmosphere lit up areas around the English Channel and as far away as the Netherlands on Monday.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Kinda freaked me out.
It looked just like the one in pic/vids, except it was dead vertical.

When I locked on and watched it, I was bracing to hear/feel the impact.
Never came though, lol
Click to expand...
Aliens.jpg
 
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