Mira

Mira (Omicron Ceti) is approaching it's maximum. It is a long-period pulsating variable with a period of 331.96 days. I observed it yesterday through binoculars but it was easily visible with the naked eye. The AAVSO website gives its present magnitude at around 3.5. I also caught my first glimpse of Saturn for this season just after midnight as it rose in the Easten sky in Leo, close to the border with Virgo.

Winter Solstice & Vesta update

Yesterday evening I took the opportunity to have a look at Vesta. It has now passed between TYC0040-01286-1 and 112 Psc and it lay just below TYC0040-00885-1 making an isosceles triangle with the two previously mentioned stars.

Today is the winter solstice. The photo above was taken about one and a quarter hours before the solstice which fell at exactly 13:04 local time. The photo is of a sundial which shows the solar analemma (the path followed by the midday sun). The shadow of the gnomon is (almost) in its position at the top of the analemma, where it should be on the shortest day of the year. On the day of the summer solstice, the shadow will fall on the lowest point of the analemma.

Triple conjunction - Venus, Jupiter & The Moon

A stunning triple conjunction graced the skies this evening. At my latitude, a gibbous Venus grazed the the moon, coming extremely close but was never eclipsed. Jupiter was a couple of degrees away forming an amazing trio. Above are a couple of photos I took of the event. One through the 200mm dobson and the other through a tripod mounted SLR.

During the conjunction, Europa entered occultation behind Jupiter as Callisto was out to the West and Io and Ganymede were paired close together to the East. It is curious to note that at that point there was a syzygy between five bodies; the Earth, the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Europa.

Vesta continues in its movement towards Alpha Piscium. Tonight it formed a flat isoceles triangle with TYC0040-01286-1 and 112 Psc which in turn form a rough equilateral triangle with Alpha Piscium.