We had balmy -15F temperatures with -24F wind chills here in Indiana this morning, so setting up a scope for this event was something I didn't even attempt (there are reports of scope cables actually SNAPPING in this cold--certainly the power cords in my garage seem to be frozen stiff). I did stick my head out of the door, though, and snapped this picture with my phone. I was amazed at how visible the event was in a sky that was fairly bright (I slept in after a late night; if my son had not woken me to get a ride to work, I would have missed it all together, so thank you, Scott!).
In the image, Jupiter and Mars are less than 0.2 degrees apart (about 18 arcminutes). The conjunction officially occurs tomorrow, January 7, but it's likely to be cloudy, so today's image is probably the only one I'll be able to get. Jupiter is the larger, whiter object (mag. -1.8), while Mars, much fainter (mag. 1.4), is to its right. The last time the planets were this close in the sky was about 20 years ago, and the next opportunity to see them this close will be 33 years from now, so it's a twice in a lifetime even for most people.
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| Cropped Image |
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| Widefield View |
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