On November 30th a 10% crescent Moon joined Venus and Jupiter in the western sky.
December 1st was the best night of all. The now-15% crescent Moon moves in closer to form an isosceles triangle with Venus and Jupiter as opposing vertices (See Dec 1 sky chart below). The three brightest objects in the night sky will be gathered so tightly together, you can hide them all behind your thumb held at arm's length.
I had been waiting for quite some time for this event and was eager to try my hand and some astrophotograpy. I didn't have very good cooperation from the weather. It was cloudy and the wind making it difficult to keep the camera steady longer exposure times (> 1 sec) .
Sky Chart for November 30th.
November 30th with Venus and Jupiter. The Moon is just setting behind the clouds on the bottom. I didn't have any time to capture the moon before it set due to the clouds. You may have to enlarge the picture to see detail.
Interesting picture of Venus and Jupiter taken the night of November 30th. The clouds on top were over Pocatello with the sky glow reflecting on the clouds. The clouds on the bottom where hanging over the hills west of Pocatello. If you look real close, you can see the blur of the star trails due to a 15 second exposure.
The sky chart for December 30th
December 1, 2008. You will probably need to enlarge the photo to see Venus and Jupiter.
Just to give a perspective on how close they were together. As pointed out earlier, you could cover all three with your thumb at arms length. Photo was over exposed to better see the planets.
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