Rare Tibet
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I was very inspired by the smiley face in the sky last week, and I have some questions.?
1)In the previous conjunctions, were the planets as close together and/or as close to earth as this weeks'?
2)Is there a record of a Jupiter Venus conjunction with the moon that was as close, as visible and with a crescent moon like this one?
3)I read that the previous conjunction was not visible since it occurred during daytime. Is it rare for it to have an extended visibility of several days, the
way we are having it now?
4)I also read that India and the Philippines saw a smile, while parts of Europe did not see any facial expression at all. Did Tibet which is more north of India and the Philippines get a smile too?
5)How much in advance was it able to be determined the exact appearance of closeness of the conjunction and that it will be with a crescent moon?
I have developed a great interest in astronomy now. Would anyone be able to refer me to some websites where I can gain some knowledge?
Your answers are geatly appreciated.
Hi. Maybe I can help you with a few of your questions.
1) Planetary conjunctions don't happen everyday, but they aren't extremely rare either. Tighter conjunctions have happened in the past, and will happen again.
It is important to remember that although the planets appear close together in the sky, they aren't necessarily close together in space (or close to the Earth, for that matter). On the evening of December 1, Venus was about as far from the Earth as Earth is from the Sun (about 1 Astronomical Unit, or AU). Jupiter was nearly on the other side of the Sun, about 5.8 AU distant. Neither planet was as close to Earth as they could have been. At its closest approach, Venus is about 0.3 AU away (although we can't see it because it appears very close to the Sun in the sky when it's that close) and Jupiter was about 4.2 AU away earlier this year. In fact, in order for Jupiter and Venus to be in conjunction, Jupiter HAS to be relatively far away from Earth.
2) In February of this year, there was a pretty good conjunction between Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon. Unlike this most recent conjunction, it happened in the early morning hours just before sunrise. The next Venus-Jupiter conjunction will be in May of 2011 (in the morning sky) and again in March of 2012 (inthe evening sky).
3) As I said before, the last conjunction between Venus and Jupiter WAS visible if you were willing to get up before sunrise to see it. No, it is not rare for two planets to appear close to each other for weeks at a time, since the planets move slowly against the background of stars. Now any conjunction that involves the Moon will necessarily only last for a day or so, since the Moon moves much more quickly across the starry background than the planets do.
4) The "smile" effect was just an optical illusion caused by the crescent Moon (the smile) being to the right (west) of the "eyes" (Venus and Jupiter) for observers in those locations. Observers in Europe actually got to watch the Moon pass in front of Venus, and observers in America saw a "frown" face because the Moon was to the east of Venus and Jupiter when we got to see it.
If you want to know who saw what, may I recommend the excellent (and free) program called "Stellarium":
http://www.stellarium.org
5) Astronomy has been a pretty sophisticated science for a long time now. This conjunction could have been (and probably was) predicted decades or perhaps even centuries ago. The only reason astronomers didn't bother making a big deal about it is because it isn't all that rare (even if it is beautiful). Conjunctions like this one happen fairly frequently, and astronomers know it.
I hope that helps. Good luck!