Moon and Pleiades conjunction January 7, 2009.
While you can, enjoy the 6 year time frame when the Moon's orbit is such that it allows these awesome conjunctions/occultations with the Pleiades, the 6 years ends 2010, and won't be repeated again till 2022.
Moon and Pleiades conjunction April 8, 2008.
I have posted the conjunctions/occultation I have imaged since I got my camera December 2007.
Moon and Pleiades Occultation June 30, 2008.
The image above was the occultation that was not to happen, all the astronomy mags stated that the occultation would be over , turning into a conjunction by the time the Moon rose in the western part of North America, not so, the Moon rose occulting both Pleione and Atlas of the Pleiades.
Moon and Pleiades conjunction September 19, 2008.
The next meeting of these two gems of the night sky will be February 3, 2009. Look to the SW around 10:30 pm. CST.
Moon and Pleiades Conjunction December 10, 2008.
They meet again March 3, 2009, they will be at their closest around 2am that morning, just as the grouping sets in the west. All the times I have quoted are CST, if you would like an exact time in your area you can email me or visit Sky View Cafe, a great site that gives you the location of all the main celestial bodies at anytime in your location.
I'll leave you now with a beautiful double lunar corona animation.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The January 7 Moon and Pleiades Conjunction
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
49 comments:
These are loony times! So beautiful too, and that double lunar corona is fantastic.
Wow, those are fabulous moon/star photographs. The moon is my favorite, you know.
Gorgeous and, again, I applaud your choice of photo for animation.
You so good.
Bob, you have really brought it this time! Its like seeing two beautiful women gazing back at you from the heavens (okay going a little to far jesse).
April 8th one - awesome
June 30 - BAD @$$
September 19 - could be my favorite.
Excellent my friend!
I think we had a beautiful ice-ring around the moon that night! I didn't take pictures though.
Beautiful shots... Up till now, I still can't see the conjunction and still wondering about it.. =\
Oh.. btw, I love your cloudy moon and hole animation placed at the side.. very pretty! :)
Lol thanks Ruth, yes we are in loony times, my favorite time.\m/\m/
Thanks Stephanie, I am so happy the Moon is your favorite, and to think you are having a part in us going back, cool.\m/\m/
Thanks Jesse, hey you picked the order in which I also like them, cool.\m/\m/
Too bad marvin, could have posted it for you. You must get some cold temps down there as well to get the Coronas.\m/\m/
Thanks a lot Cashmere, the Moon and hole was awesome live, maybe you'll get lucky with the Moon Pleiades next time now you have the dates, they look awesome if you can score some binoculars.\m/\m/
Bob I just found your blog through Rocket Scientist. In a comment to Stephanie at this post (http://rocketscientist.today.com/2009/01/13/knowing-ones-limitations/), she gave the nod to you and hoped that some light might be shed.
I'm curious about why the Earth has a concave up "smile" in the image in the Rocket Science blog header. Seems to me, from my geometrically challenged brain, that the earth's visible margin would be a "frown", paralleling the moons surface. I'm convinced that the answer will be embarassingly obvious but I'll risk asking anyway.
I look forward to following this blog because it the right amount of serious content mixed in with some tongue-in-cheek flavor.
Cheers!
Brian
TheSecretofNewton
I only introduce my friends to the best blogs.
Hey Brian thanks for dropping by!
Wow, great question. Actually the phases of the Earth as the phases of the Moon are not caused by the shadows cast from either the Earth or the Moon.
The only time the Moon and Earth cast shadows are during eclipses, so the curve up or down have nothing to do with the curvatures of the Earth and Moon.
It's all about the position of the Moon and Earth and Sun in relation to each and how much of the reflected Sunlight we see, called phases, or curves. the videos will make it a little more clear for you.
I have given you a couple links, one of the Moon Phases and one cool one of the Earth phases as seen from the Moon taken by Apollo 17. Hope this helps a little.\m/\m/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aFGNGEcDOk
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Movies/ephaseap17.mov
Hey thanks Stephanie, I just answered Brian's question, hope it makes sense, I gave a couple of links to help out, it is one of those questions best answered by AV aids,lol.\m/\m/
Wow Bob that's like over 13 years from now... I think I miss every one of them, but hey I have you here to see it, and does not have to be cold. Excellent images as always. Anna :)
Bob this helps a bunch! Much thanks.
I don't want to exhaust my allowance of questions for the day, but I figure that you're also the guy to confirm that the phrase "nostril event horizon" has not been already coined and that I have the honor of being its originator.
I've defined it as "the rim of the nose outside which finger fiddling can be called a scratch, but inside which the finger action cannot escape being called a pick."
Background story to the phrase is in a stemcell computing post on my blog.
I'm hoping you come through for me on this, because I need to redeem myself after forgetting that earth phases are not shadow casts!
Cheers!
Great picture, I loved the lunar carona that was beautiful.
Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby
Blow me down! I wish I knew how to make decent graphics, I'd whip you up a Blogccultation Award or something. Incredible!
The 1-7-09, 9-12-08, and 12-10-08 shots are breathtaking. Not to mention the double lunar corona! Honestly, I think your photos look better than the real thing a lot of the time.
What a fantastic blog entry!
Thanks Anna, hey that's why I do this, so if it's too cold you can still come here to view stuff,still if you can get some binocs and view one live in the Summer time you should, they are awesome together.\m/\m/
Lol, you are too funny Brian, what a cool phrase, as far as I know it is your phrase.
As far as the phases question, not to worry, it is a common misconception about the Earth and Moon causing these shadows.\m/\m/
Thanks AngelBaby, it is one of my faves as it formed before my very eyes, and then went away again.\m/\m/
Lol, thanks Genie for the thought of giving me an award. The Moon and Pleiades gatherings always get me excited,and because of the cycle ending I hope to see a few more before 2010, hope you can take some pics on one of them.\m/\m/
I'm glad they were all wrong. The "gems" are beautiful. Looks like I'll have a pleasure viewing them on my BD this year. What a present :o)
Bob:
Those are some fantastic pictures of the moon and the Pleiades. When I was younger someone showed me a picture book of UFO's. According to the author, the flying saucers came from the Pleiades! So I went out every night to find the Pleiades, but I couldn't pick them out from among all the other stars. Then one night I saw them, and after that they seemed so obvious.
Happy stargazing.
Wow, very cool Ivanhoe, take pics if you can, I will post them for you, depending on the weather I may not be able to.\m/\m/
Thanks swubird, came from the Pleiades, cool,lol. If you get the chance get some binoculars and view the Pleiades, they stand out nicely with them.\m/\m/
O.M.G. Bob, in 2022 I will be 72 and my neck will be so stiff with Arthritis that I cannot look up anymore to see the beautiful moon in the sky...LOL.. I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it here and now on your blog! And if you will be still blogging about in 2022, I'll be back...LOL..
Thanks for this interesting post and your always excellent shots, Bob!
Sue's Daily Photography
Hope that I, myself could have seen those moon..
GAGAY
Lol, Susanne, hey if I'm still around I'll be taking pics for you.\m/\m/
Hi GAGAY, thanks for dropping by, maybe you'll be able to view the upcoming Moon/Pleiades gatherings.\m/\m/
What a beautiful corona - the colors are so bright! I am never lucky enough to see them like this in real life - glad we all have you, Bob!
Thanks Kathy, glad you like it.\m/\m/
Your photos are always so breathtaking. I especially love these ones of the Moon and Pleiades conjunctions/occultations. I've always been mesmerized by the moon and you capture these images with great talent.
I posted "my moon" today. It's not even close to your beautiful pics, but it's mine :o)
I'll try to take some pics of the moon & gems if the sky is clear.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks a lot Jane Doe, and thanks for dropping by.\m/\m/
Yes, Thanks to you... I will be looking out for them and checking them out since I know the date... Although I don't have much luck in catching these... =\
That's great Cashmere, I will give you a heads up the next time they are out and where to look.\m/\m/
Hey Bob, how've you been? Its been quite a while but I'm back.
Interesting post, I have actually been checking out Pleiades a good bit with my new telescope and along with the moon its a really neat phenomenon
Good to see you again The Fool. Great you got a telescope,how big and what kind? Need any suggestions for add-ons just let me know.\m/\m/
beatiful moon... so jupiter and saturnus is my favorite :)
Thanks My Journey, Saturn and Jupiter are my 2 fav planets too to view in the night sky..\m/\m/
Excellent shots Bob! I see you're still keeping up with the astrophotography. Good job.
You state that the next Moon and Pleiades's conjunction will happen February 3in the SW around 10:30 pm CST. I'll definitely be keeping my head up and checking it out this time ...weather permitting of course.
And I do hope I'll have the opportunity to read your blog in 2022 as well. Maybe then you'll be presenting it in a virtual three dimensional space field, dictating instead of typing it out. Who knows? LOL
Take care my friend.
~JD
thanks for the info, I would sleeping when they meet again, though
Such amazing photos! I just gave you a shout-out on twitter .. told everyone they should visit you :)
Hi JD, good to hear from you again, good luck with viewing the next gathering.
Lol in 2022 who knows what kind of equipment will be available, something to look forward too.\m/\m/
No problem krizcpec, too bad about the sleeping, I'll take pics for you.\m/\m/
Wow thanks Drowsey, I really should learn more about twitter since I believe I have an account, and I keep getting emails about people following me on it.\m/\m/
Bob, the occultation tonight, 10:30 or 9:30 CST?
Post a Comment