Crescent moon, Jupiter and Venus in the evening twilight taken on 22 June 2015. The close approach of the two brightest planets, Jupiter and Venus, occurred in the early hours of 1 July 2015. I have been watching this develop over the last couple of weeks or so, and using the x40 optical zoom on my bridge camera to try to capture some images of the event. The first picture shows the two planets accompanied by the crescent moon in the evening twilight on 22 June 2015. I couldn't resist trying to capture a picture of the crescent moon as well (second image) on that evening.
Crescent moon on 22 June 2015. The last two pictures (below) show Jupiter and Venus near closest approach at around 22.10 BST (21.10 UT) on the evening of 30 June 2015. We had a beautiful clear sunny day in Southampton, UK on the 30th, but then at the crucial time in the evening cloud started to build, threatening thundery showers. However as the evening wore on the cloud eased, and just as I was beginning to think that they planets had set, I caught a glimpse of them low on the W horizon beneath the cloud cover. Strangely it was raining as I took the pictures - so I guess I was very lucky to see anything at all.
This is the closest planetary conjunction this year. Jupiter is seen a little above Venus, both at an elevation of around 10 degrees above the WNW horizon. I estimated the separation at this time as 0.37 degrees (22 arcminutes), which is pretty close (about 2/3 the diameter of the full moon). It was obviously easy to see both objects in a single field of view of binoculars, and by coincidence theyhad the same apparent size disk (32 arcseconds). Venus's phase at the time was a 34% crescent, but unfortunately my binoculars were not good enough to see the crescent shape!
This is the closest planetary conjunction this year. Jupiter is seen a little above Venus, both at an elevation of around 10 degrees above the WNW horizon. I estimated the separation at this time as 0.37 degrees (22 arcminutes), which is pretty close (about 2/3 the diameter of the full moon). It was obviously easy to see both objects in a single field of view of binoculars, and by coincidence theyhad the same apparent size disk (32 arcseconds). Venus's phase at the time was a 34% crescent, but unfortunately my binoculars were not good enough to see the crescent shape!
Jupiter and Venus at conjunction in the evening twilight on 30 June 2015.
The planetary duo on 30 June 2015, with Jupiter slightly above brilliant Venus.
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