Picture and information from the "Toronto Star"Nov.29,2008.


A rare moment in the dance of the planets brings Jupiter and Venus in close proximity this week. A third event-the moon passing close by-will take place on Monday, December 1, 2008. Viewers in North america will join the spectacle a few hourws after the closest point, which will be visible in Europe at dusk (about 11 a.m. Toronto, Canada time).

The three tenors of the night sky will reunite, an event that may not be seen again for another 40 years.

A crescent moon will join Venus and Jupiter, which will have been slowly moving closer to each other, creating a triumvirate of the three brightest objects in the heavens. The planets will not be as close or as visible again, until 2052.

Second from the sun, and relatively close to Earth, Venus is covered in impenetrable white clouds that reflect 75% of the sun's light, making it the brightest planet. Jupiter, meanwhile-five time the distance of the Earth from the sun-owes its status as second brightest to its left.

Jupiter is twice as big as all the others combined and its diameter is 11 times that of the Earth's.

The sight will be visible in Toronto from about 5 p.m. to about 6:20 p.m. on Monday, 20 degrees above the southwest horizon. And the heavenly show would be hard to miss if it's a clear night.

The planets will be visible to the naked eye, separated only by a finger width held at arm's length. In reality, Venus and Jupiter are orbiting millions of kilometres away from each other.

On Monday, December 1, 2008 even the weakest binoculars should bring Jupiter's four planet-sized moons into focus.

Thank you for this information Inda.
I missed reading the papers this weekend.
I will find out the exact time that we can see it in Montreal and hopefully the skies will not be too overcast.

Love,
yoko

Wow, how I wish I could enjoy this group hug of the planets Jupiter and Venus together with our romantic moon! I don't see a great portion of the sky from my apartment, but I will try to find out exactly when they can be observed ... you said at dusk, could be 5 pm then. Maybe I could see it from the office terrace, but there is light pollution there ...
Anyway I am fascinated by these events. Thank you, dear Inda, for the information!

Love and hugs.
Margherita

found this image that was taken at a similar event on Feb. 18th, 1999

Thank you for sharing this information Inda.

Unfortunately we have a very dark and overcast day here, so I don't know if we will be able to see anything. I will look out for it aniway.

Margherita, it probably is 5 p.m. your time, but I am not sure

Love,
Vicky

Thank you Inda.

I am not sure that I will be able to see anything.
It is very dark and overcast, but I will look for the light.

Sincerely,
Gisele

Thank you for the post Inda.

We do have a very overcast sky here, but I will look out for the dance of the planets at about 5 p.m.

Love,
Sue

quote:

Originally posted by dear Gisele:
Thank you Inda.

I am not sure that I will be able to see anything.
It is very dark and overcast, but I will look for the light.

We could not see the dance of the planets here in Toronto because we had a very overcast sky, however, the sky put on a happy face for many viewers around the world.

Stargazers from around the world captured images of rare planetary alignment of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon which created an illusion of a smile in the firmament.

I could not see it either, but there was a picture in the paper and it really looked like a smiling face looking down on us. We need something to smile at the earth, to bring some hope.

Love,
Vicky

Thank you everyone for joining me in the dance of the planets.

The sky did put on a happy face for some lucky spectators.

Some people in Katmandu had quite a good view of the happy face.

Sorry my image is so poor but I scanned it from the Globe and Mail newspaper and it did not turn out very well, however, you can see the smile

When there was also the moon I didn't see the show, but this evening I saw the brightness of Venus and Jupiter, still very close in the indigo sky. I tell you it was awesome!

Thank you for sharing that picture, dear Inda. It certainly gives the idea!

Love,
Margherita



This was back in 1999 I guess but still Jupiter, Venus and Crescent Moon

Thank you Margherita for sharing
this very clear image.

The moon and the planets really shared a smile.

Love, Inda

Thank you Inda, I saw this picture in the paper as well.

Thank you Margherita for the very wonderful image. This really makes the heavens smile.

Love,
Vicky