Jupiter in the Sky

So, I noticed the bright star to the southern sky a few weeks ago. It has been at least two solid weeks, and Jupiter is still in the sky.

I am having a hard time remembering any planet being visible for this long of a period of time?

Am I just mistaken? or is this odd?

What's cool is that the other night in Sydney, through binoculars I was able to see Jupiter's moons as well. They were on a diagonal plane, beginning on the upper left & going down to the lower right of the planet. I never recall being able to see that amount of detail through binoculars.

Also late Saturday night/early Sunday I noticed a bright halo around the moon, and Jupiter was resting just outside the ring. I took this pic:



That's Jupiter on the upper left, the blue dot is a lens flare.

Where are you viewing from? There are a few planets visible now.

EDIT: cool, I just noticed you had posted on my other thread, what a coincidence.

[edit on 22/7/08 by Evasius]

[edit on 22/7/08 by Evasius]

I definitely agree with the moons.

When I looked at Jupiter with my telescope, I saw what appeared to be 4 moons (2 on each side) all lined up in a diagonal line. It was very neat. But, I thought it was weird that they would be lined up linearly. I even commented on it to my family who gave me the telescope.

.... hmmm... My telescope has this eyepiece, which I can hook a camcorder or camera up to (I just have to buy a watch battery for it)... I should get on top of that. I have a feeling it could be useful in the years to come.

Originally posted by Evasius
Also late Saturday night/early Sunday I noticed a bright halo around the moon, and Jupiter was resting just outside the ring. I took this pic:



That's Jupiter on the upper left, the blue dot is a lens flare.

Are you sure that isn't Neptune? I thought Jupiter was over to the right of the moon by Sagittarius Saturday and Sunday night. Pluto is on over to the right of Jupiter. Uranus was in the lower Eastern sky. I saw Arcturus in the West & Antares in the southwest sky down below pluto.

I'm in Tennessee so my view will be different.

[edit on 7/22/2008 by Solarskye]

reply to post by Evasius


It's winter where you are right? around here we rarely get snow but we do at times. The old wifes tale is that when there is a ring around the moon, it will snow in 10 days. I was told that that ring is ice crystals. Nice picture.

reply to post by Solarskye


well, the Jupiter that I saw, was to the Right of the moon. However, the moon does traverse across the sky, and from a different location (Texas here), it could be seen in a different location relative to the moon...

reply to post by ThreeDeuce


Yeah you're probably right. I love looking up at the planets and the moon. I just need to get me a good telescope. That was a good picture Evasius took.

Okay,
So.... Jupiter is still visible nightly!!!

Does this strike anyone odd?
I had originally posted after I had noticed this planet visible for at least two weeks, and that was in July.

It still is visible 3 months later!!!

Am I drawing too many conclusions when I think that its odd for Jupiter to be visible for 3.5 months?

Is this the beginning of Galactic Alignment that 2012 is supposed to bring?

It seems to be another sign that things are going to change.

Am I thinking about this too much?

Are there other times when planets have been visible for extended periods of time?

For some reason, I think this is really really really odd..

reply to post by ThreeDeuce


Yes you are thinking about it too much.
The planets are visible for months at a time.
This has nothing to do with any "galactic alignment"
Things always change.

Solarskye --

Neptune is only visible through a relatively powerful telescope (which is one of the reasons it wasn't discovered until the mid-1800s), and that picture looks like it was NOT taken through a relatively powerful telescope. Therefore, I really doubt it is Neptune.

And ThreeDuece --

It is not strange at all for Jupiter's four major moons to appear lined up; Galileo often observed them lined up in such a manner (and so have I).

...and I'll second what Phage said above: Planets are usually visible for months at a time.

Thanks guys...
I guess I was drawing too much from it......
Unless Jupiter stays up there for another couple of months.. We'll see.

Okay....
So, Jupiter still has been in the sky every night that I have looked.

reply to post by ThreeDeuce


Okay
It will be in the sky until the middle of January. At which point it will still be in the sky but too close to the Sun to be visible.

[edit on 5-11-2008 by Phage]

[edit on 5-11-2008 by Phage]

this may help you study it a bit more.....unless you already know about it ....

www.stellarium.org...