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Photos of
Venus-Jupiter-Moon
Conjunction
1 December 2008
On 1 December 2008 the planets Venus and Jupiter and the Moon were in "conjunction" -- that is, as viewed from the Earth, these three objects were very close together. This conjunction could be seen from all points on Earth. After the sun set, Venus and the Moon appeared to move closer together and from Europe the Moon eclipsed Venus for more than an hour -- the astronomical term is "occult" -- that is, move in front of and hide.
A conjunction of these three objects will occur again in 2052.
With the exception of the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the brightest source of light in the heaven, and Jupiter comes a close second.
Conjunction is a term used in positional astronomy. It means that, as seen from the Earth, two celestial bodies appear near one another in the sky, he said.
I set up my camera on a tripod and took these photos of the Venus-Jupiter-Moon conjunction. Camera is a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT with a 100-400mm zoom lens; camera mounted on a tripod.
This photo was taken about 30 minutes before sunset. Venus is the object in the bottom of the photo, Jupiter on the right, and the crescent Moon on the left.
Clouds were moving in as I was taking these photos -- see the cloud fragment below the Moon.
This photo was taken an hour after sunset as clouds were moving past the Venus-Jupiter-Moon conjunction. I don't recall the shutter speed but the shutter was open for several seconds. Look closely and you will see that Venus and Jupiter appear slightly elongated -- that is because they moved ever so slightly across the sky during the time the shutter was open.
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