Magnificent Planetary Conjunction over Armagh

The gas giant planet, Jupiter, was nearly in conjunction with bright, тАШevening starтАЩ, Venus, and the Moon. The Moon occulted, that is, passed in front of, Venus from about 3:36 p.m. to 5:07 p.m. The respective distances of the bodies from Earth were then about a quarter of a million miles (Moon), 93 million miles (Venus), and 540 million miles (Jupiter).

Astronomers at the Armagh Observatory successfully recorded the event using the historic 10-inch Grubb refractor and a CCD video camera. The images show, respectively, the telescope and Venus emerging from behind the Moon, after the end of the occultation, while Jupiter is above and to the right. The dark part of the Moon is faintly visible because of Earthshine, that is, sunlight reflected off the Earth, then off the Moon and back to Earth.

Click on image for full size Apostolos Christou recording the event using the 10-inch Grubb telescope at Armagh Observatory

Click on image for full size Venus just emerging from behind the Moon after the occultation, with Jupiter above and to the right (Images courtesy of Miruna Popescu) Click here for more photos

Last Revised: 2008 December 2nd

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