Anyone Know What Stars/Planets These Are?

Thats so cool u posted this, as i asked my boy to point his phone at these exact stars your talking about and he said that it came up as Venus and Jupiter as stated above. From Chicago it looks a slight bit different but that may have been because of the time freaky i dont remember seeing them either and i watch the sky alot. They are pretty bright from here.

I could be wrong, I do not remember where I read it, but I think that this particular configuration will not occur again for 36 years. If that is the case, and if it has been the same amount of time since it last occurred, that could be why many can not remember seeing it before.

reply to post by alfa1


If the op was looking at the sky at midnight, which is the time that he put into stellarium, then it is obviously not Venus and Jupiter.

On top of that, the op was starting to think that it was Saturn and Spica because he was looking at Paris at midnight US time. And before you tell me that the midnight scene would be roughly the same in Paris and Danvers MA, remember that stellarium defaults to the computer's time zone. What the op was actually looking at was Paris at around 5 am.

Originally posted by yadda333
reply to post by alfa1

 

If the op was looking at the sky at midnight, which is the time that he put into stellarium, then it is obviously not Venus and Jupiter.

On top of that, the op was starting to think that it was Saturn and Spica because he was looking at Paris at midnight US time. And before you tell me that the midnight scene would be roughly the same in Paris and Danvers MA, remember that stellarium defaults to the computer's time zone. What the op was actually looking at was Paris at around 5 am.

Which simply means: yes, at 5am it would be Saturn and Spica with Mars near the horizon in the west. I saw this just this morning at 5 am when I got up to take my son to school here on the east coast of the US.

In the evening, Venus and Jupiter (Venus being the bright one) are visible in the west, with Mars visible at the eastern horizon.

However, I must say, if the OP's picture is of Saturn and Spica...then they are doing a great job with the camera type that they have to capture Spica, and with a lot of light pollution on the horizon.

reply to post by Antz2xplicit


That is a great pic of jupiter and venus,looks like they r about 4degrees apart

Originally posted by yadda333
reply to post by Antz2xplicit

 

Your screen shot shows that your location is set to Paris.

You should post the exact time of your pictures and what direction you were facing. (I'm curious how everyone has said it is Jupiter and Venus without knowing the time and direction)

edit on 3/19/2012 by yadda333 because: (no reason given)

Probably the pictures and the fact it has been mentioned a few times on here and most people that comment have seen it for themselves.

He did say he took the pictures tonight!

In regards to the confusion of the OP pics and the Stellarium screen shot...

They are not the same segments of sky.
In the OP pics we see Jupiter with Venus brighter just above and to the right.
In the Stellarium screenshot, the upper star is to the left.

User error inputting the location into the program, I have done it myself numerous times when trying to look at what the sky looked like at previous times.

reply to post by Antz2xplicit


For future reference you should try an app called Google Sky Maps. It shows you all of the stars/constellations in the sky in real time.

Originally posted by wmd_2008

Originally posted by yadda333
reply to post by Antz2xplicit

 

Your screen shot shows that your location is set to Paris.

You should post the exact time of your pictures and what direction you were facing. (I'm curious how everyone has said it is Jupiter and Venus without knowing the time and direction)

edit on 3/19/2012 by yadda333 because: (no reason given)

He did say he took the pictures tonight!

edit on 19-3-2012 by wmd_2008 because: line added

What time "tonight"?

And again, he posted a stellarium screen shot with a time input of midnight. Was this simply a mistake? Probably was, but I'd rather not make assumptions

reply to post by youdidntseeme


yeah it was my first time using stellarium, Paris must be the default location. if you ask me i would say i was facing south east at 7:28 eastern time (time on pic info) i am NOT good with directions like that but i did take a pic from google maps and circled where and what direction i was looking.

reply to post by yadda333


dont know why it says midnight, im in Massachusetts, but i did post it on the board at 1146pm est

reply to post by Antz2xplicit


Rest assured, set up stellarium tonight just after nightfall and make sure you have the correct time and location input....

In the western sky you will be able to see the same thing again, very bright Venus and Jupiter just below and to the left, not quite as bright.

As you begin to follow the sky eastward, you will see Orion's belt (almost overhead if I am remembering correctly from last night), follow east a little bit more and you will see Sirius, the dogstar, always very pretty looing, and then you can also see Mars a little bit more to the east, it will have a reddish hue and not look much different from the surrounding stars. Check on Stellarium fo the exact location.

It rather cool to be able to look up at the night sky and be able to recognize things at a glance, even if you use the software as a guide at fist!

OP, in the future, if you post pics of stars again, please provide us with the direction you are pointing at. This helps a lot.
As the other poster mentioned, you seem to be looking at Jupiter and Venus.
To differentiate one from another is easy, Venus is the 3rd brightest celestial object (after the sun and the moon).
Its a spectacular configuration in the sky.
Once you will setup Stellarium correctly, you will find its an awesome tool.
I use it regularly.

Jupiter is further South. It is below the eliptic plane of Venus.

So, you're probably watching these two as they set... to the West of course. Therefore, Jupiter is the left one, Venus the right.

Originally posted by yadda333
reply to post by Antz2xplicit

 

Your screen shot shows that your location is set to Paris.

You should post the exact time of your pictures and what direction you were facing. (I'm curious how everyone has said it is Jupiter and Venus without knowing the time and direction)

edit on 3/19/2012 by yadda333 because: (no reason given)

As an avid star-gazer, I can tell you.

Because anywhere in the world, those two Orion's Belt, Mars, and a few others are easily recognizable points of light. Venus and Jupiter will ALWAYS be the brightest points, other than the moon, this time of year. At other times of the year, it will be Sirius and Venus....but always Venus, nonetheless.

Of the two in the OP: Venus is the largest, brightest point of light, and Jupiter is near it, also bright, but smaller.

If you have a smart phone, there's a number of apps available that allow you to point your smart phone at any object or portion of the sky, and the app will tell you exactly what you're aimed at.

Look around, and you'll find several.

Im pretty sure its Jupiter and Venus your looking at. I've been watching them most nights for the past few weeks.

Here is an article about them Jupiter and Venus event

Originally posted by ButterCookie

Originally posted by yadda333
reply to post by Antz2xplicit

 

Your screen shot shows that your location is set to Paris.

You should post the exact time of your pictures and what direction you were facing. (I'm curious how everyone has said it is Jupiter and Venus without knowing the time and direction)

edit on 3/19/2012 by yadda333 because: (no reason given)

As an avid star-gazer, I can tell you.

Because anywhere in the world, those two Orion's Belt, Mars, and a few others are easily recognizable points of light. Venus and Jupiter will ALWAYS be the brightest points, other than the moon, this time of year. At other times of the year, it will be Sirius and Venus....but always Venus, nonetheless.

Of the two in the OP: Venus is the largest, brightest point of light, and Jupiter is near it, also bright, but smaller.

The entire thread is only two pages--you should try reading the whole thing

There is an epidemic of post first ask questions later responses.

reply to post by Antz2xplicit

You probably "got the picture" by now. Here's a post I made with a link to cool space stuff coming up at the end of March:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Screenshot for 25th March:


Hopefully the world won't end before then. (The Immiment Doom Site, ATS))

Venus and Jupiter Definitely, they are particularly beautiful over in England this evening