What Is Those 2 Big Stars In The Sky ?

[yabaaaa]

nah, it was deleted as being waaay too immature

Favouritism

[yabaaaa]

Here is a photo I took this evening, for those who can't see it.

Photo

I'm not sure but I think I can see the Jupiter rings on that photo !

[edit] : I wasn't knowing many people posted their photo before me because I didn't refreshed the thread ^^

But my photo is in 3072x2304 and quite clear. Try it !

Thanks thats a really good shot of Jupiter you cAn see its moons really well!!

[Sunderland]

One Thai TV station reporting that it's a sign that Thais will smile, unify and solve their differences. Wishful thinking, but maybe more chance of that than the police or army clearing the airport before the new year.

[phaethon]

You need to look really carefully and use video to really appreciate the significance...

[Carib]

You need to look really carefully and use video to really appreciate the significance...

[Kerryd]

You need to look really carefully and use video to really appreciate the significance...

Ugh, that's all we need is for him to start thinking he is a celestial diety !

If he sees this, and gets back into power, how long before someone starts calling that the "Thaksin Constellation" ?

Good think it only comes around once every what, 100 years or so ?

[tweezer]

Here's the view from my balcony at about 7 PM last night (1-Dec.) I'm looking southwest from Laksi. Jupiter and Venus... but which is which?

Cheers,

--T.

[EvilDrSomkid]

When the missus came home she was running around all excited! She said there is a smiley in the sky...

I saw this too last night from my balcony. Suay mak mak! Very rare sight...

The moon had a reddish haze. It was bit creepy. a bloody smile and a wink If I was superstitious, I would see it as a bad omen.

Venus has been clear in the sky the last few days. Could not see the moons of Jupiter.

[Tonyzill]

The big smiley face is over the Yemen desert as well. Just found out thanks to this forum what is going on. There was a few of us wonsering what the stars were.

One of our more knowlegable colleagues informed us the brighter one was a satelite!!! Local of course.

[JCDentonMale]

Nope, it's definitely Venus and Jupiter, no satellite

Yesterday was the last day to see the smiley in the sky, today the two Venus and Jupiter will appear under the moon.

Edited December 2, 2008 by gabylastar

[JCDentonMale]

I shot Jupiter tonight with the maximum zoom of my Cybershot and we can clearly see the moons !

I cropped the picture to be able to post it there.

Of course it does not worth a picture made with professional equipment but I still like it

[EDIT] : uploaded the moon names

Edited December 2, 2008 by gabylastar

[Meerkat]

I shot Jupiter tonight with the maximum zoom of my Cybershot and we can clearly see the moons !

I cropped the picture to be able to post it there.

Of course it does not worth a picture made with professional equipment but I still like it

[EDIT] : uploaded the moon names

That's a great shot considering you don't have specialized equipment - well done!

Now that you've installed Stellarium, check out some of the Messier objects (some of them can be seen with the naked eye). I think M45 would probably come out well with your camera - it always looks great through binoculars.

Maybe TV should start an astronomy forum...

[paddymckenna]

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

I have put photos up of it happening last night - check out www.flickr.com/photos/fishcake

hope you like them, they where taken from my balcony in central bangkok, and they were unbeliveably bright..

Paddy

[AmeriThai]

I shot Jupiter tonight with the maximum zoom of my Cybershot and we can clearly see the moons !

I cropped the picture to be able to post it there.

Of course it does not worth a picture made with professional equipment but I still like it

[EDIT] : uploaded the moon names

Nice pics! Looks like there may be a couple of other moons showing around Jupiter, just barely visible though.

[Rinrada]

When the missus came home she was running around all excited! She said there is a smiley in the sky...

I saw this too last night from my balcony. Suay mak mak! Very rare sight...

The moon had a reddish haze. It was bit creepy. a bloody smile and a wink If I was superstitious, I would see it as a bad omen.

Venus has been clear in the sky the last few days. Could not see the moons of Jupiter.

Same over here in North London.

Just picked wife up from her mates house and they were talking about how the moon last smiled like this in Thailand 42 years ago...every 42 years ...yes....

I explained that its just 'Big Jew' Jupiter and little Venus appearing in line with the new ..albiet smiley moon (crescent ).....but no good ....as far as she is concerned its a GOOD sign for Thailand and thats it...........but we are in...MPrai...same same....

My brother of course has chipped in by telling her that he saw it this morning about 6-30 am (London) so now she wants me to go out and find it.........................eh....its freezing ..almost minus - 1 and a heavy frost........and I aint been ae the pub yet....

...will check later on way back...

[JCDentonMale]

I shot Jupiter tonight with the maximum zoom of my Cybershot and we can clearly see the moons !

I cropped the picture to be able to post it there.

Of course it does not worth a picture made with professional equipment but I still like it

[EDIT] : uploaded the moon names

That's a great shot considering you don't have specialized equipment - well done!

Now that you've installed Stellarium, check out some of the Messier objects (some of them can be seen with the naked eye). I think M45 would probably come out well with your camera - it always looks great through binoculars.

Maybe TV should start an astronomy forum...

Thank you

I'd like to try to shot a galaxy tonight, it's very near the ursa major and seen as a star with naked eye, Messier 101. But I don't expect too much of it because that's not easy with a photo camera, when the zoom is to the maximum, the objects in the sky move pretty fast Here is the galaxy I would like to shot : Google Sky link

Another thing is that the Ursa Major is not well visible before 3am here.

By the way it will be nice to start an astronomy forum, but I don't know if much people will come there... But considering the number of views of this thread, it's maybe a good idea

Edited March 10, 2011 by sbk

[Meerkat]

I think you'll have a hard time snapping M101. It's magnitude is around +9 which means that Jupiter (magnitude -2) is about 24,000 times brighter (each degree of magnitude is about 2.5 times brighter than the next degree higher, so 11degrees difference is 2.5^11=23,800ish). From very dark sites away from street lights it's generally considered that you can't see things with your naked eye of magnitudes higher than around +6. A good site explaining about magnitude of things in the sky is here.

I'd recommend trying to find M31, the Andromeda galaxy. It's our closest spiral galaxy and is about magnitude +4.4, a bit brighter than Jupiter's moons (mag +5) . It's also huge (around 7 times as wide and twice as tall as the full moon – much too big to fit in my scope even under lowest power.) It will be highest in the sky (and thus clearest) between around 8-9pm - find Polaris in the north sky and follow it up around two-thirds of the way to the zenith.

I can't really help with the sky moving too fast! You'd need to get yourself a tracking mount that moves at the same speed, but then cost goes up of course.

Good luck and let us know how you get on! I'll have a think about setting up an English language astronomy website for expats (everything I've seen so far has been in Thai) – we're thinking about building a small observatory in Khao Yai so it might be a good project to do in conjunction with it.

Edited December 3, 2008 by Meerkat

[G54]

I would like to say 'thank you' to those who took the trouble to take photos of the smile in the sky and to post them here.

Shame I am not due back for a week and missed this phenomenon, but you have helped to make up for it

Edited December 3, 2008 by G54

[JCDentonMale]

I think you'll have a hard time snapping M101. It's magnitude is around +9 which means that Jupiter (magnitude -2) is about 24,000 times brighter (each degree of magnitude is about 2.5 times brighter than the next degree higher, so 11degrees difference is 2.5^11=23,800ish). From very dark sites away from street lights it's generally considered that you can't see things with your naked eye of magnitudes higher than around +6. A good site explaining about magnitude of things in the sky is here.

I'd recommend trying to find M31, the Andromeda galaxy. It's our closest spiral galaxy and is about magnitude +4.4, a bit brighter than Jupiter's moons (mag +5) . It's also huge (around 7 times as wide and twice as tall as the full moon – much too big to fit in my scope even under lowest power.) It will be highest in the sky (and thus clearest) between around 8-9pm - find Polaris in the north sky and follow it up around two-thirds of the way to the zenith.

I can't really help with the sky moving too fast! You'd need to get yourself a tracking mount that moves at the same speed, but then cost goes up of course.

Good luck and let us know how you get on! I'll have a think about setting up an English language astronomy website for expats (everything I've seen so far has been in Thai) – we're thinking about building a small observatory in Khao Yai so it might be a good project to do in conjunction with it.

So I'll try tonight with M31 and eventually M45 which looks awesome too.

For M101 I was thinking I could see it with naked eyes in France. Maybe it was another star, like HP65728, I just checked in Stellarium and this could be that one. M101's magnitude is about 7.70 actually, but probably that's still too much

I don't expect too much because a single camera isn't a telescope !

[AlexLah]

Here is a photo I took this evening, for those who can't see it.

Photo

I'm not sure but I think I can see the Jupiter rings on that photo !

[edit] : I wasn't knowing many people posted their photo before me because I didn't refreshed the thread ^^

But my photo is in 3072x2304 and quite clear. Try it !

Great shot!

What are you using?

[JCDentonMale]

I use a simple Sony DSC H5 with a very little tripod, not the most recommended way to shoot at the stars .

Tonight there is too much light because of the moon and public lights, I don't know if I will be able to see M31. At least I know where to watch, thank to Meerkat !

[dudemeister]

I thought i had something last night,

but it all became clear in the morning.

[Mosha]

Any one know when a spectacular conjunction is next due?

[Meerkat]

I use a simple Sony DSC H5 with a very little tripod, not the most recommended way to shoot at the stars .

Tonight there is too much light because of the moon and public lights, I don't know if I will be able to see M31. At least I know where to watch, thank to Meerkat !

You're welcome! If you're interested in things like Messier and other "Deep Space" objects, you might like to try Cartes du Ciel. It's similar to Stellarium, but not as pretty. On the up-side though, it more clearly shows you where those objects are. It's free as well (and there's a French version - I think it was designed by a Canadien).

Here's my pic for the evening - Jupiter again. I'm much happier with it than the one I posted the other day - at least I managed to get some of the cloud bands this time. It was composed of 1,120 1/30s shots aligned and stacked on top of each other (using what is basically a web-cam modified to fit a scope). I need to take some dark shots (just shots with the lens cap on) to subtract those horizontal lines you can see from the cam (the ambient light around here in the suburbs of BKK doesn't help). Still, I'm only learning and progress is progress!

[dingdongrb]

Any one know when a spectacular conjunction is next due?

I have read that the next time this will occur will be in 2052...... I hate to say that I probably won't be around to see it.....

[Mosha]

I wasn't exactly expecting a Moon Venus Jupiter one in my life time. Just wondering about something similar.

Edit found this. http://astronomyonline.org/UpComing.asp#In...ng_Conjunctions

Edited December 3, 2008 by Mosha

[JCDentonMale]

I use a simple Sony DSC H5 with a very little tripod, not the most recommended way to shoot at the stars .

Tonight there is too much light because of the moon and public lights, I don't know if I will be able to see M31. At least I know where to watch, thank to Meerkat !

You're welcome! If you're interested in things like Messier and other "Deep Space" objects, you might like to try Cartes du Ciel. It's similar to Stellarium, but not as pretty. On the up-side though, it more clearly shows you where those objects are. It's free as well (and there's a French version - I think it was designed by a Canadien).

Here's my pic for the evening - Jupiter again. I'm much happier with it than the one I posted the other day - at least I managed to get some of the cloud bands this time. It was composed of 1,120 1/30s shots aligned and stacked on top of each other (using what is basically a web-cam modified to fit a scope). I need to take some dark shots (just shots with the lens cap on) to subtract those horizontal lines you can see from the cam (the ambient light around here in the suburbs of BKK doesn't help). Still, I'm only learning and progress is progress!

Hello, I don't very understand how do you do that, but the result is pretty good. What is your camera model ? And what settings ?

I used :

Exposure : 2s

Opening : f/3.7

ISO : 125

in order to get my jupiter moons shot. But of course I only get a white big point for Jupiter itself

[Meerkat]

Hello, I don't very understand how do you do that, but the result is pretty good. What is your camera model ? And what settings ?

I used :

Exposure : 2s

Opening : f/3.7

ISO : 125

in order to get my jupiter moons shot. But of course I only get a white big point for Jupiter itself

I use a NexImage cam (it's the same as a Philips ToUcam webcam, but slightly modified for astro use). So instead of taking individual pictures, you record an avi movie for a minute or so. Then some clever software splits the movie into individual frames, aligns them up to compensate for tripod wobble and atmospheric distortion and stacks them on top of each other to produce the finished image. Works well for the moon and planets as they are bright enough (1/30s exposure times for that last image - focal length of the scope is f/10), but not much good for deep space objects. For those I'll need to buy an adaptor for my DSLR and do longer-term exposures (could be anything up to a few hours, taken as a series of 10 minute or so shots and stacked together). If your camera has a record movie mode, you might be able to use that to get some clearer pictures - but without a tripod that tracks the planet it will be difficult. There's a good intro to webcam astronomy here.

Here's a pic of the kit in action; the scope's pointing to the moon, and the cam (small black thing at the back of the scope) is streaming live video to the laptop. Jupiter and Venus are peeking through the power lines! As you can see, the light pollution's pretty bad here so most of my viewing is done at our place in the country...

Edited March 10, 2011 by sbk

[chuck_s]

The small yellow one is Jupiter. Venus is the big blue and white one, but it is actually not close but on the other side of the sun.

The smile, from what one Thai describe it as. It looked like the joker from Batman smiling down on Thailand, with his sinicle smile.

[Mosha]

They have been talking on Thai TV about another event tonight. Again a smilie in the sky. Does anyone know which objects are in conjunction with the moon?

Edited December 29, 2008 by Mosha