Venus, Jupiter and the moon align this weekend
After Thanksgiving, you may be so stuffed you can do nothing but sit and stare up at the sky.
Well that’s the perfect position to take when Venus, Jupiter and a crescent moon line up in the southwestern sky just after sunset on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
No need for a telescope. The Moon and the two planets will be visible to the unaided eye and easily distinguishable from the stars in the distance.
“They will be the brightest things in the sky,” said Anthony Cook, astronomical observer at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
The three celestial objects pass each other once a year but rarely do they appear this clearly, he said.
“It’s striking,” Cook added.
Here’s the scoop: Look to the southwest, about 17 degrees above the horizon, between 6 and 7:30 p.m. on either night.
On Nov. 30, the crescent moon will be just below the two planets. Venus will be the brightest of the two and Jupiter will have a slight yellow tinge. On Dec. 1, the moon will be just above the two planets.
To see photos of similar alignments from the past, check out the NASA Images website.
Cook doesn’t recommend looking through a telescope because you won’t be able to get all three objects in one field. Instead, he suggests using less-powerful binoculars to see some detail without isolating any of the orbs.
Although the moon and the planets will look close in the sky, they are actually millions of miles apart. The moon is 240,000 miles away; Venus is 93 million miles away and Jupiter is a scant 539 million miles from earth.
You can read more about the alignment and other astronomical sights on the Griffith Observatory’s weekly Sky Report.
-Hugo MartÃn, Times Staff Writer
[Photo: Venus, Jupiter and the Moon align over Phoenix. Credit T. Polakis, courtesy of NASA]
10 Comments on “Venus, Jupiter and the moon align this weekend”
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November 29th, 2008 at 5:17 am
The orientation of the planets and Moon in your diagram are wrong. They should be rotated as a group approximately 90 degrees counterclockwise!(http://stevekluge.com/geoscience/images/november2008skycorrection.jpg)
The Moon as shown would only be visible like that in the early morning before sunrise.
November 30th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
That’s awesome. Still makes me wonder, what is the definition of a planet?
http://www.sethandray.com
November 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
You’re right, Steve. I think what happened was that they got the image reversed 180 degrees. Maybe they got the negative in backwards? It wouldn’t be the first time. Have you ever noticed how often the crescent moon is the wrong way ’round in cartoons? You can excuse that maybe, but a publication like the Los Angeles Times should be a lot more careful about that sort of thing.
November 30th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
PS: Interesting that they got it right on the front page pic and then messed it up on the full story page.
November 30th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I went to glance at the sunset around 5:35 and was STUNNED to see this trio perched in the sky. I knew instantly this was not normal.
Thinking it was an “anomaly” I grabbed my camera, just in case! Heck, it could have been a UFO…just keeping it real!
It was very exciting to see…kinda felt like I was on another planet looking up at three Moons.
November 30th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
looks like the photo on this page is taken from stock photos on the NASA page and not meant to represent the current sky
November 30th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
“Although the moon and the planes will look close in the sky,…” I think the moon and ‘planes’ flying by will look close, but I bet the readers are more interested in the planets.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am
I comment from Komatipoort, Mpumalanga in South Africa. At about 19:30 my brother in law contacted us to observe. The planets were perfectly aligned. Truly amazing.
December 1st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I GOT A PHONE CALL FROM A FAMILY MEMBER TO TELL ME ABOUT IT, AT FIRST I SAW NOTHING , MAYBE BECAUSE I WAS ON A BUS FROM WORK, BUT I KEEP LOOKING BEHIND ME AND THERE THEY WERE.. MOST AWESOME THING I EVER SEEN , HAD TO CALL MY HUSBAND AND TELL HIM TO TAKE PICS.. HOW COOL!!!!!!!!!!!
December 1st, 2008 at 6:00 pm
THIS WAS A SPECTACULAR SIGHT FROM BOSTON MA,