hi everyone,
Hope you were all successful in observing the continuing conjunction last night.
Paul, Valerie & Aubrey, Ken, Michael, and myself all met up at the Sugarloaf Car Park in Wicklow around 9pm on Wednesday night.
A beautiful sunset just after 9:30pm (all times BST) had us all anticipating a good view of the planetary trio. Some nice crepuscular rays and an unusual counter-glow below the setting sun were interesting phenomena to note before Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter took centre-stage.
To be honest, I was a bit nervous at this time of a cloud-bank that seemed to sit over the western skyline and was seriously considering driving over the mountains to a more westerly location. However, Ken soon allayed my fears with his confidence that we would get a clear view of the conjunction.
First sighting of one of the planets was at 9:45pm. For some time we were sure it was Venus against the bright sky but then were astonished to discover it was Mercury we had been looking at instead! The planet was pretty bright but once a strip of cloud moved away we could then spy Venus and Jupiter, correcting our original error!
All 3 planets could not fit completely in the 4.5-degree field of view of my 15x70mm binoculars. I was really surprised how much Jupiter was dimmed by atmospheric extinction.
Jupiter winked out first and set behind a distant ridge. It was a very brownish-orange colour against the twilit glow. Venus was next to set and we followed it as it slowly sank towards the horizon. The thicker layers of atmosphere really caused it to appear reddish-yellow at this time. I watched the planet up to the moment it set and was rewarded by a green flash of Venus! Not a pure emerald green but a very pale hue, yet distinct all the same.
We continued to seek out Mercury now and again just to have a last sighting of it before it was gone for the night. By now we were also seeing a number of satellites creeping across the sky. There were a number of nice sightings as they vied with lower down traffic in and out of Dublin Airport. One particular satellite brought gasps of delight as it intermittently flashed brilliantly during its slow tumble across the heavens. I must try confirm this object via the heavens-above.com web site.
I had a look at a few binocular doubles -- the paralleogram of Lyra is particularly interesting with 3 of the 4 stars that make up the pattern being double. Delta 1 & 2 Lyrae are part of a loose assocation called Stephenson 1. I also swept up M13 at this time while a brief stab of light was the only meteor we noticed on the night.
Most of the group left around 11pm when we were seeing Scorpius low in the southeast, a sign of sights towards the galactic centre to entice us out observing during the summer months.
I lingered a bit after the rest had gone home, savouring the darkening sky and just thinking about how much I had missed observing and the camaraderie of doing so with the rest of the group. I have done more observing in the last week than in at least the last three years. Various committments to clubs and organisations have meant not getting out actually looking up at the sky. Most of these have been shed and I'm really glad to get back rediscovering why I love this hobby,
john
  