A Splendid Conjunction On A Winter Solstice Night

 

         Jupiter-Saturn conjunction from our back yard earlier tonight.

To the naked eye, the two planets  Jupiter and Saturn did indeed appear as one especially bright object tonight.   Given we may not see another such close planetary conjunction in our lifetime it was a no-brainer for us to go out and observe and partake of the experience.  

Fortunately, the weather cooperated and we made plans to drive to an open space near a utility road a short distance away.  This is given we were concerned about the many homes (and trees) blocking our view of the southwest sky.  

Using my Cybersky planetarium program I adjusted local time and altitude to arrive at a predicted optimum combination for watching from our (Colorado Springs) location.  The image - captured above - gave an azimuth of 223 degrees and altitude of 15 degrees.   This was at 5: 18 p.m.   (You can see Jupiter-Saturn as the single yellowish dot to the southwest just east of Pluto)

Though we arrived at the site at 5: 10 p.m. with telescope and binoculars the initial sky brightness was just too much to see the conjunction.  Indeed, we had to wait a full ten minutes for the sky to darken enough and then I spotted a relatively bright object in the southwest sky - confirmed as the planetary duo with my binoculars. As predicted they were roughly 6.1' of arc apart or 0.1 degree.  

I called Janice over - she was maybe 50 yards further down the road chatting with some other sky watchers- and let her use the binoculars.  I meanwhile turned to my trusty "Admiral's telescope" with which I could see the pair much more magnified (25x power as opposed to 7 x).   

We observed for maybe another ten minutes as the dual object descended  toward the southwestern horizon, then drove back home.  Janice figured we could still get a good look from our backyard, but on the extreme northern side adjacent to our garage - which provided the only clear view.  There she used her cell phone to take the photograph seen at the top. 

The event, rare as it is, was well worth the time and trouble to locate and observe.  A splendid sight to behold on a Winter Solstice night - as well as providing an escape from the raging pandemic, its mutations and the inhuman mutation known as Trump!