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It's been almost 5 months since my last post on this PhotoBlog. Five days after that last post, October 22nd, I fell of a ladder and found myself in the hospital with a broken ankle and wrist. So it's been very tough to get around. I finally felt good enough to set up my camera a take the above image from a friends front yard.
This is Venus (the brighter one) and Jupiter as they came close together in what astronomers call a conjunction. They are 3.1 degrees apart on this date, March 12. The next day they are closer, but only by 1/10 of a degree. Standing here on Earth, they seem fairly close to each other, but that's only an optical illusion. Venus is actually about as far away as the Sun (93 million miles) but way off to the left of the Sun, while Jupiter is about 5.3 times (586 million miles) further away on the other side of the Sun.
In the days to come they will be going further apart, but starting on March 24th, a beautiful crescent Moon will be just below Jupiter. On the 25th, the Moon lies between the planets and on the 26th, it will be just above Venus. I'm hoping for some clear skies and some warm weather for picture taking.
