The Moon tonight

Marcome21

Hello,

I have been watching the moon on and off tonight here, for the last few hours, in Dublin. And as it moves across the sky I noticed a bright "star" that seems to stick by it all night.

It is sticking right by the Moon all evening and I was really wondering what it was and thought this was the best place to ask. I reckon it can't be a star as it has followed the moon all evening.

Maybe it is a Nasa satellite? Love to know what it is.
Thanks for reading.

pontia

its not a star,its jupiter,you can see its 4 moons as well if you have binoculars

angeleyes

Your thread Marcome21 inspired me to go to outside to look. I haven't a clue about what it is but I've never seen a star so close to the moon before.

Marcome21

Thats really interesting, thanks alot for replying. There is a telescope in the house. Im gonna check it out now.

ZeRoY

pontia wrote: »

its not a star,its jupiter,you can see its 4 moons as well if you have binoculars

Much closer around 11pm, was just about 2 moons width. I imaged the Moon tonight, pic incoming!

Marcome21

Just back from getting the old telescope out. It was truly amazing to see Jupiters four moons as you said Pontia, but even more incredible was to see the Moon up close and in such detail! The bleakness and reality was incredible.

Thanks alot for the inspiration to have a good look.

im invisible

Marcome21 wrote: »

It is sticking right by the Moon all evening and I was really wondering what it was and thought this was the best place to ask. I reckon it can't be a star as it has followed the moon all evening.
.

just a wee link explaining the motion of the moon relative to the stars, the other planets would be pretty static compared to the stars aswell, (well, over the course of a few hours at least) so its more the earth rotating under the moon than the moon going around the earth

ZeRoY

Had to go take a pic... Canon 1100D @300mm 1/160 exp.



Edit: One from earlier on, with the Meade lxd75 Telescope this time, 752mm focal, 40X 1/400 ISO100 subs stacked in Registax 6

ZeRoY

Was cold moon tonight for a short while (2-3 hours max), went down to the seaside and tried some stuff, getting the exposure correct is so, so difficult! Here's my best attempt, was 2" exposure @200 ISO. F3.5 (combined 2 pics for panorama)



Jupiter visible just on the far top right corner

Marcome21

Beautiful pictures ZeRoY. Your first two was exactly what I saw the other night. I read that tommorrow night is the last full moon of 2012 http://www.thejournal.ie/dont-miss-tomorrows-the-last-full-moon-of-2012-732463-Dec2012/

Marcome21

Hope you don't mind ZeRoY, I made your third photo my wallpaper. It looks stunning on my 1920x1080 screen.

ZeRoY

Marcome21 wrote: »

Hope you don't mind ZeRoY, I made your third photo my wallpaper. It looks stunning on my 1920x1080 screen.

'Course not! glad you like it and thanks!

Knifey Spoony

Nice clear night last night, so was able to see the moon and Jupiter clearly. Got out a pair of crappy binoculars and got a closer look at Jupiter, but not close enough to see any of it's moons. Amazing to think that tiny bright spot is the biggest planet in the solar system.

Using my "Sky at Night" app I saw that both the moon and Jupiter were in Taurus, so did a bit of research and was able to spot Aldebaran and the the Pleiades. I was amazed I was able to spot so much just using a pair of binoculars and considering all the light pollution that there is around here.

Really tempted to invest in a telescope now.

ps200306

Yeah, sky was very pretty the last couple of nights, even from light polluted Dublin. Jupiter makes a fine sight among the winter constellations.

P.S. Lovely pics ZeRoy