Imaging Opportunity: Quadruple Conjunction

Hello again,

This time I am writing to raise your attention to a very amazing celestial conjunction, a quadruple conjunction.

The conjunction involves each of the "waning" crescent moon, Venus (brightest of all except for Crescent), Jupiter, and Aldebaran (alpha Tau).

You may also consider that around the conjunction there is the Pleiades & Capella!



In increasing order of magnitude*:

• Vega (alpha Lyr): 0.00
• Capella (alpha Aur: 0.05
• Jupiter: -1.94
• Venus: -4.37
• Crescent moon: -9.58

*The smaller the number the brighter!

I leave you with some tips & three images of the three predawn conjunctions of July 14, 15, & 16.


Imaging tips

• Turn off automatic flash
• Take scenic images (i.e; include land features like horizon or mountains) if possible.

Note: If you took any images of the conjunctions, please do email us your best image or two to   astrobob.tk+lebastrophoto (at) gmail (dot) com   to share it on our blog.

Conjunction on July 14 @ 0330 (predawn)

Conjunction on July 15 @ 0330 (predawn)
Note: Jupiter is covered by Crescent

Conjunction on July 16 @ 0330 (predawn)

The International Space Station will pass by the conjunction at
Sunrise around 0524. Another great but critical imaging opportunity!
(Acknowledgement to Riad H. for pointing it out)

Update (2012-07-03): Though I noticed it from the image for July 15 still I didn't give it any thought until I was reminded by my friend Silvia T. (thank you) that the moon will occult Jupiter [1].

Details for Beirut, Lebanon are as follows:

Occultation predictions of Jupiter      Magnitude -1.9
Date 2012 Jul 15

Moon: % illumination = 15-,  Solar elongation = 46

      Disappearance
                                    U.T.    Sun Moon     CA  PA  WA   a    b
Location                          h  m  s   Alt Alt Az    o   o   o  m/o  m/o 

LB Beirut                         1  4 37   19  77 -79S      90  101 +0.3 +1.1 

      Reappearance
                                    U.T.    Sun Moon     CA  PA  WA   a    b
Location                          h  m  s   Alt Alt Az    o   o   o  m/o  m/o

LB Beirut                         2  9 53   -6  32  85   73S 243 254 +0.5 +2.0 

Source: see [1]. 

Update (2012-07-03): A Good Reason to Wake Up at Dawn (NASA) [2]

Thanks for reading :)

clear skies
& happy imaging!

[1] 15 July Occultation of Jupiter
[2] A Good Reason to Wake Up at Dawn