UPDATE: Photos of the Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars Conjunction from the 23rd February.

Conjunctions of the Moon and Planets can be quite special events, as we saw on December 1st 2008 when The Smiley Face Conjunction graced our skies. A conjunction is an alignment or grouping together of 2 or more celestial bodies (usually the moon and planets) in the sky, from our vantage point on Earth. The objects aren’t necessarily physically close to each other in space, but from where we see them, we call the grouping a conjunction.

A conjunction doesn’t have any particularly special meaning, but they can be interesting to observe because very close conjunctions are quite rare events. It can be very exciting to see two planets in the same field of view of your telescope! Not only that, but conjunctions, especially with the moon and/or bright planets are involved, are just a lovely spectacle to look at and photograph.

Smiley Face Conjunction at Sunset, December 1st 2008

Given that, there’s a few conjunctions coming up later in February and in late April that are worth getting up early to see and photograph:

• February 23rd: Conjunction with the Moon, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars (Photos here)
• February 25th: Conjunction with Jupiter, Mercury and Mars
• April 23rd: Conjunction with the Moon, Venus and Mars

Continue reading for more information including sky charts and tips for observing and photographing the conjunctions.

Read the rest of this entry »