Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: acecharly on 26/12/2012 00:33:48

Title: What could produce a bright dot just above the moon?
Post by: acecharly on 26/12/2012 00:33:48

Ive just been outside and was looking at the moon which is nearly full and about 4/5 the diameter away is a bright dot like a star above it. Im surprised how bright it is in the glare of the moon. im in birminghm in the uk and the time is 00:33am. Although the camera on my phone is not great ive tried to take a picture which i will post

Title: Re: what is that just above the moon?
Post by: RD on 26/12/2012 02:15:54

Possibly Aldebaran ...

Quote

Aldebaran ... is a red giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldebaran

http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky

[ if it isn't planet Nibiru (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon) making a late appearance [:)] ]

Title: Re: what is that just above the moon?
Post by: Bill S on 26/12/2012 02:23:16

Harwich UK.  02 20. Just had a look.  My first thought was one of the planets, but my astronomy is not good enough to be at all sure.  I guess RD is probably right.

Title: Re: what is that just above the moon?
Post by: Phractality on 26/12/2012 03:00:48

Using JPL's solar system simulator (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?tbody=301&vbody=399&month=12&day=26&year=2012&hour=01&minute=00&fovmul=1&rfov=2&bfov=30&brite=1&showac=1), I see that the moon just passed very close below Jupiter.

Here's a closer look at Jupiter (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?tbody=599&vbody=399&month=12&day=26&year=2012&hour=01&minute=00&fovmul=1&rfov=1&bfov=30&brite=1&showac=1) with the moon on the edge of the picture.

The time is set to 01:00 UTC, which is just about now.

EDIT: Acutally, that was two hours ago. Since then the moon has moved out of the picture to the left. You have to use a wider angle (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?tbody=599&vbody=399&month=12&day=26&year=2012&hour=03&minute=00&fovmul=1&rfov=5&bfov=30&brite=1&showac=1) to see where the moon is now.

The closest conjunction (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?tbody=599&vbody=399&month=12&day=26&year=2012&hour=00&minute=20&fovmul=1&rfov=1&bfov=30&brite=1&showac=1) occurred about 00:18 UTC.

Title: Re: what is that just above the moon?
Post by: RD on 26/12/2012 05:17:31

Yes it was Jupiter ...

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yourtel?lat=17.5121&ns=North&lon=67.254&fov=7.955&date=1&utc=2012-12-26+0%3A33&jd=2456287.54797&coords=on&moonp=on&deep=on&deepm=6.5&consto=on&constn=on&constb=on&limag=6.5&starn=on&starnm=3.5&starb=on&starbm=4.0&showmb=-1.5&showmd=6.0&imgsize=512&fontscale=1.0&scheme=0&elements=

it's the first time I used that simulator and I managed to switch the planets off  [:I]

Aldebaran isn't too far away ...

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.space.com%2Fimages%2Fi%2F000%2F024%2F569%2Foriginal%2F121219-Gaherty-Jupiter-Moon.jpg&hash=af8fbacb1d4745d412130b24258bff7f)
http://www.space.com/19024-jupiter-moon-christmas-skywatching.html

Title: Re: what is that just above the moon?
Post by: Phractality on 29/12/2012 01:03:22

In case you missed it, there will be a similar Moon-Jupiter conjunction on 2013 Jan 22, 03:00 UTC (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wspace?tbody=599&vbody=399&month=1&day=22&year=2013&hour=03&minute=00&fovmul=1&rfov=2&bfov=30&brite=1).

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspace.jpl.nasa.gov%2Fcgi-bin%2Fwspace%3Ftbody%3D599%26amp%3Bvbody%3D399%26amp%3Bmonth%3D1%26amp%3Bday%3D22%26amp%3Byear%3D2013%26amp%3Bhour%3D03%26amp%3Bminute%3D00%26amp%3Bfovmul%3D1%26amp%3Brfov%3D2%26amp%3Bbfov%3D30%26amp%3Bbrite%3D1&hash=59fd6cb22e33ef5589dac11c6f3786f5)