What Is Those 2 Big Stars In The Sky ?

[JCDentonMale]

Hello,

I am now in Kanchanaburi and yesterday I noticed 2 stars (or planets) I never saw before, looking at north or east. They are the first 2 stars you will see when the night come and they are pretty big, you can't miss them. But they disappear before 9 PM.

I just would like to know if someone know their name, the constellation, anything about those two stars.

I ask this because I never saw those two stars in France and even in China, and I very like astronomy.

Thank you for any answers !

[yabaaaa]

I think one is Venus?

[JimmyTheMook]

Saw them as well.

Very bright and large

[sbk]

Jupiter and Venus, I read a very interesting article about it the other day, but I wasn't sure it would be visible here in Thailand

[sbk]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27958792/

Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1.

A slender crescent moon, just 15 percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.

People who are unaware or have no advance notice will almost certainly wonder, as they cast a casual glance toward the moon on that night, what those two "large silvery stars" happen to be? Sometimes, such an occasion brings with it a sudden spike of phone calls to local planetariums, weather offices and even police precincts. Not a few of these calls excitedly inquire about "the UFOs" that are hovering in the vicinity of our natural satellite.

Very bright objects

Venus has adorned the southwestern twilight sky since late August. No other star or planet can come close to matching Venus in brilliance. During World War II, aircraft spotters sometimes mistook Venus for an enemy airplane. There were even cases in which Venus drew antiaircraft fire.

This winter, Venus is the unrivaled evening star that will soar from excellent to magnificent prominence in the southwest at nightfall. The interval by which it follows the Sun will increase from nearly three hours on Dec. 1 to almost four hours by Jan. 1.

It's probably the first "star" you'll see coming out after sunset. In fact, if the air is very clear and the sky a good, deep blue, try looking for Venus shortly before sunset.

Jupiter starts December just above Venus and is moving in the opposite direction, dropping progressively lower each evening. By month's end Jupiter meets up with another planet — Mercury — but by then Jupiter is also descending deep into the glow of sunset. In January, Jupiter will be too close to the Sun to see; it's in conjunction with the Sun on Jan. 24.

Earthlit ball

A very close conjunction of the crescent moon and a bright star or planet can be an awe-inspiring naked-eye spectacle. The English poet, critic and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) used just such a celestial sight as an ominous portent in his epic, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

In addition, there are juxtaposed crescent moon and star symbols that have appeared on the flags of many nations, including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

Also on Monday evening, you may be able to see the full globe of the moon, its darkened portion glowing with a bluish-gray hue interposed between the sunlit crescent and not much darker sky. This vision is sometimes called "the old moon in the young moon's arms." Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it as what we now call "earthshine."

As seen from the moon, the Earth would loom in the sky some 3.7 times larger than the moon does for us.

In addition, the land masses, the oceans and clouds make the Earth a far better reflector of sunlight as compared to the moon. In fact, the Earth's reflectivity varies as clouds, which appear far more brilliant than the land and seas, cover greater or lesser parts of the visible hemisphere. The result is that the Earth shines between 45 and 100 times more brightly than the moon.

The Earth also goes through phases, just as the moon does for us, although they are opposite from what we see from Earth. The term for this is called "complementary phases."

On Nov. 27, for example, there was a new moon for us, but as seen from the surface of the moon that day, there appeared in the lunar sky a brilliant full Earth. A few nights later, as the sliver of a crescent moon begins to appear in our western twilight sky, its entire globe may be glimpsed.

Sunlight is responsible for the slender crescent, yet the remainder of the moon appears to shine with a dim blush-gray tone. That part is not receiving sunlight, but shines by virtue of reflected earthlight: the nearly full Earth illuminating the otherwise dark lunar landscape. So earthshine is really sunlight which is reflected off Earth to the moon and then reflected back to Earth.

Keeping it all in perspective

Keep in mind that this head-turning display of three celestial objects crowded together will be merely an illusion of perspective: the moon will be only about 251,400 miles from Earth, while Venus is nearly 371 times farther away, at 93.2 million miles. Meanwhile, Jupiter is almost 2,150 times farther away than our natural satellite at 540.3 million miles.

Those using binoculars or a small telescope will certainly enjoy the almost three-dimensional aspect of the moon, but Venus will be rather disappointing appearing only as a brilliant blob of light, for right now, it's a small, featureless gibbous disk.

That will change in the coming weeks, however, as Venus approaches Earth and the angle it makes between us and the Sun allows it to evolve into a "half-moon" phase in mid-January, and a lovely crescent phase of its own during the latter part of February and March.

Jupiter, on the other hand, is a far more pleasing sight with its relatively large disk, cloud bands and its retinue of bright Galilean satellites.

All four will be in view on Monday evening, with Callisto sitting alone on one side of Jupiter, Ganymede, Io and Europa will be on the other side. Io and Europa will in fact, appear very close to each other, separated by only about one-sixth the apparent width of Jupiter.

Venus 'eclipse' for Europe

As beautiful as the view of Venus, Jupiter and the moon will be from North America, an even more spectacular sight awaits those living in parts of Western Europe where the moon will pass in front of Venus.

Astronomers refer to this phenomenon as an "occultation," taken from the Latin word "occultÄ re," which means "to conceal."

This eye-catching sight will be visible in complete darkness across much of Eastern Europe. Farther west, Venus will disappear behind the dark part of the moon either during evening twilight or just before the Sun sets.

When Venus emerges, it will look like a brightening jewel on the slender lunar crescent. For virtually all of Europe, the Sun will have set by then, the exception being southern Portugal (including Lisbon).

Such favorable circumstances are quite rare for any given location. For example, the last time London was treated to such a favorably placed Venus occultation such was back on Oct. 7, 1961.

And after 2008, there will not be another similarly favorable Venus occultation for the United Kingdom until Jan. 10, 2032.

[tmd5855]

Venus and Jupiter.

At least so say's my friend "Krongk" newly arrived from the Natala Nebula.

He is the one with the funny walk along Beach road at 3am.

Still waiting for his earthling legs

[JCDentonMale]

Wow I never saw a so dynamic forum ! I just posted the question and I already got many answers. Thank you all !

You seem to be right, there's a moon+venus+jupiter alignment right now and now I remember that the two "stars" were not blinking. So it has to be this. I just saw this article and that looks like what I saw : http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=7691

Thank you again !

[JCDentonMale]

Is there a mean to mark the thread as "resolved" ?

[JCDentonMale]

Jupiter and Venus, I read a very interesting article about it the other day, but I wasn't sure it would be visible here in Thailand

You very deserve your "Star member" rank by the way

[Tywais]

Yep, Jupiter and Venus but at least in Chiangmai they are Southwest and quite visible around 6:30 to 7:30 PM. There is a topic on the forum started a few days ago about this.

[Kerryd]

Is there a mean to mark the thread as "resolved" ?

As the Originator, you could request that a Mod close the thread, now that you've found the answers you were looking for.

Or just leave it open for others to add comments and such.

[ovenman]

Yep, Jupiter and Venus but at least in Chiangmai they are Southwest and quite visible around 6:30 to 7:30 PM. There is a topic on the forum started a few days ago about this.

I noticed them one night last week around that time in the evening. Very bright.

[AlexLah]

This is anything but resolved.

Why you believe the MSM?

They are under control of the elite, yeah the bankers and such.

I personally believe they are the motherships from some other planet and they just wait for the right moment to attack us.

Just signalling us, so to speak.

Unless someone makes a picture with a telescope that shows they are not spaceships, this question remains.

[sbk]

This is anything but resolved.

Why you believe the MSM?

They are under control of the elite, yeah the bankers and such.

I personally believe they are the motherships from some other planet and they just wait for the right moment to attack us.

Just signalling us, so to speak.

Unless someone makes a picture with a telescope that shows they are not spaceships, this question remains.

OK, now can I call you weird?

[Moonrakers]

13 posts without the obligatory mention of uranus?

[sbk]

nah, it was deleted as being waaay too immature

[dingdongrb]

Since you are new to this forum please forgive Alex...He appears to be off his medication once again.... When you start posting and log in to TV more often in the future you will learn to just ignore him, we all do...... (just joking Alex, as always )

:D :D

[Kerryd]

13 posts without the obligatory mention of uranus?

Who is looking at Uranus ?

I'd slap them ! I'd much rather look at Venus than Uranus.

Then again, get me liquored up and who knows ?

[mahtin]

13 posts without the obligatory mention of uranus?

Who is looking at Uranus ?

I'd slap them ! I'd much rather look at Venus than Uranus.

Then again, get me liquored up and who knows ?

I never get that disoriented

[dingdongrb]

13 posts without the obligatory mention of uranus?

Who is looking at Uranus ?

I'd slap them ! I'd much rather look at Venus than Uranus.

Then again, get me liquored up and who knows ?

I never get that disoriented

I have no problem looking at both.....

[Carib]

This is where AlexLah lives

[DavidOxon]

Look! What on Earth has this to do with where the best hamburgers can be found in Chiang Mai.... the de facto reason for the whole Thai Visa phenomenon in the first place?

David

[stuandchris]

FYI the two planets will be in plane tomorrow with a quarter moon. around 6 to 7 it will look like a smiley from heaven, very rare.

Take time from your chang to look upwards and take a photo, once in your lifetime !

[Ta22]

i was understand the impression that one of that is a Man made statlite . and it belong to thailand

.

namely thaksin send it up

[Moonrakers]

13 posts without the obligatory mention of uranus?

Who is looking at Uranus ?

I'd slap them ! I'd much rather look at Venus than Uranus.

Then again, get me liquored up and who knows ?

Are you suggesting that after enough you might want to look at my....

[JCDentonMale]

Excellent, Uranus, haha ! I never noticed it before... That's mainly because I'm french and we say the U as [y] in international phonetic

Edited November 30, 2008 by gabylastar

[Patsycat]

Ca serai ton anus.

sorry sbk a bit of french there. won't do it again.

Anyway back on subject, can we see these planets in Europe at any time?

Edited November 30, 2008 by Patsycat

[JCDentonMale]

Yes, I think. Have a look at this website : http://www.astronomy.com/asy/stardome/default.aspx

You will find there a little java application to have an overview of what you can see in your sky according to the date and your coordinates. Very useful if you like astronomy !

[G54]

FYI the two planets will be in plane tomorrow with a quarter moon. around 6 to 7 it will look like a smiley from heaven, very rare.

Take time from your chang to look upwards and take a photo, once in your lifetime !

Anyone with a photo they can post of this phenomenon, pretty please?? Some of us are on enforced stay out of LOS and would like to see it

[bkkjames]

I noticed them last night, thought to myself are those stars? I mean in Bangkok generally one can't see for the smog. Then I said, must be airplanes but then no, no flights.

Anways, along with the cooler weather it appears our night skies are clearer