Tonight, I’m out with the scope for the first time in nearly a month. I’ve been sick and super busy and just have not been able to get out hardly at all. This evening though, The sky was great and while it’s cold, I’m wearing layers so it’s not too bad. Right now, after sunset, Venus and Jupiter are getting very close to one another in the southwest sky. Venus is extremely bright and below Jupiter, which is also bright, but not as bright as Venus. You can see in this picture that the planet is showing a quarter moon phase. An interesting fact is that only the inner planets (Venus and Mercury) show phases. Venus is actually waning and by the beginning of 2009 will be much more of a crescent.
In addition to Venus, I also snagged Jupiter. The Great Red Spot is on the back side of the planet, so not visible here, but you can easily see the cloud bands.
Well, I’m still out and capturing a bunch of long exposures of the Sculptor Galaxy so I hope to have another image posted this evening.
It’s great to be back looking at the stars.
