Sadly, it was cloudy so much last week and I didn't see that closest positioning. Your viewing on Tuesday morning sounds beautiful, stargazer!

I thoroughly enjoyed your Endeavour post, starkat. So glad you got there!

Cool comet post, DiGs. How exciting!

Hopefully this one will put on a good show for us next year.

Indeed! And I did see on FB that Mother-Music caught herself a comet in her telescope, 168P Hergenrother.

I very much enjoyed your description of the train ride home from the ball game, 'gazer, with the Harvest Moon on the one side and the Minn. skyline on the other, wow!

Bella, that is a beautimous shot of the moon!

Every morning as I leave for classes, Orion is readily visible in the night sky. The fiery eye of Venus is also staring down at me.

I just love this time of year. Clear, crisp mornings are so wonderful for star watching.

Yes, yes! And this morning was no exception. With Orion moving slowly across the sky—his belt pointing down to bright Sirius, Jupiter high in the SW, with the moon between its last quarter and New, Venus' eye still burning in the east, the Pleiades almost at the zenith, to add to that glory, I was standing out on the front lawn gazing at the night sky around 6, enjoying the serenity before my walk, when a streak began from the west and traveled swiftly, but not in the blink of an eye, towards the south. I'm pretty sure this was a fireball meteor, as it was slower than the average meteor (a few seconds versus a split second) with a lengthy streak behind it, and quite orange. A glorious sight by which to start the day! In fact, this a.m. was so crisply clear and cool (near freezing here) that the dark section of the moon was very visible. Can someone remind me of the name for that? It's on the tip of my tongue, but won't come any further.

EDIT on Friday a.m.: As I was out looking at the Venus/Moon conjunction now (it's awesome on this clear, cold morning, btw), the word came to me, I think ... is it "penumbra"?? I recall that relates to an eclipse also.

EDIT 2: So, what defines an astronomical conjunction? Is it the closest distance any two objects can be?

EDIT 3: Got some okay photos of the conjunction this a.m. ...

*Morning prior to conjunction, Oct. 11

*The penumbra, if that is indeed the correct word, turned out quite well here. If you look carefully, you can also see it in the first photo

*And there they are, together at last , with an evergreen's dark silhouette adding to the atmosphere

*The beginnings of dawn (love this one, especially)

More excellent pictures, jo! The one with the Moon and Venus in twilight is especially pretty.

I also liked your description of the fireball. Those are always a special sight.

(The term you're thinking of is actually earthshine as it's the light from the earth lighting up the night side of the moon for us. A more poetic phrase, when it occurs in the evening, is "The old moon in the new moon's arms." You're right, the penumbra is eclipse related, and does look a lot like earthshine in a lunar eclipse).

We're entering another semi-favorable string of ISS viewing opportunities for the evening crowd.

In addition to the potentially spectacular comet Digs mentioned recently, there's a chance for an impressive meteor storm come May 2014. Details.

Edit: Endeavour set off for the west about 7:05 a.m. this morning. Farewell Endeavour and we thank you.

Someone on a different board posted this link to a video of Endeavour's final journey through LA to its permanent resting-place.

Mission 26 The Big Endeavour

This has been an amazing experience that I will never forget. My hope is that this film will show you the amount of dedicated people and teamwork that it took to get the Endeavour to its new home. Enjoy.

Winter is just around the corner here...the trees are bare of leaves and the sun sets before 5 pm. This makes for some long stargazing nights! (Unless it's -30 )

Yesterday was a balmy 54F/12C - perhaps the last time this season we'll see such heat and have clear skies at the same time. So I ventured out to a nearby state park - just far enough out to get away from at least most of the city lights - for one more campfire/stargazing session.

The sky was quite pretty if not spectacular (the Twin Cities light dome still spoiled the view to the southwest), but by 8 pm Jupiter's golden light was a definite attention-catcher in the east. And there were a couple of impressive meteors. The first was magnitude -2 (not quite as bright as Jupiter) but the second was far brighter, worthy of another AMS meteor report. It started at -1 but after about 15 degrees it exploded with a flashbulb-like burst of at least magnitude -10 that probably cast shadows. (It's hard to judge things that bright, but I momentarily lost my night vision from it, and that doesn't happen even with -8 Iridium flares ). Then it faded and remained visible a few more degrees (I couldn't see the fireball then, since my pupils were busy dilating again, but there was a train that lasted long enough for me to guess the meteor continued).

It seems to me that there have been a lot of big bright fireballs lately, the most spectacular being the one seen over the US West Coast a few weeks ago.

Which reminds me...the Geminid meteor shower peaks next month. More details later.

Very cool video, Varna.

Ah, yes, earthshine, thanks, stargazer! And that one meteor, especially, sounds amazing! I had a similar experience this morning, and presume it was a 'leftover' Taurid meteor, possibly. I walked out of the house early to catch a bright light in the SW sky, heading downwards rapidly. It was long, fast, with a definite ball at the leading end. I don't think it would have been a -10 like yours, 'gazer, but probably not much less. More than a -8, so I'm thinking a -9. Awesome! It looked like it was heading right for earth—almost perpendicular to the land. I love unexpected night sky treats like that , looking very similar to this although not that bright.

And just an hour before this fireball, I woke early to view an ISS pass (-3.4, nice and bright) across the zenith of the sky, then a -6.4 Iridium flare only 5 minutes later. Yep, 'twas a great start to the day!

After it seems a few weeks of cloudy weather, we have a few clear days/nights in store now. It's so lovely to see the heavens again (and nice that the nights are longer for more accessible viewing), but I was surprised the other morning to see how far Orion had moved since I last saw it.

Woohoo for the Geminids next month!

A new post so this isn't missed:

Before the prolific Geminids in December, come the Leonids, peaking tonight. And we're expecting clear skies here! I hope to get up well before dawn to take this in. Since even quite far above the eastern horizon is tree-filled from our backyard, I may venture over to the schoolyard, which has a full-vista view in that direction.

I really enjoyed reading your fireball account, jo. I'm glad you got to see such a spectacular sight! Have you considered reporting it to the AMS? (Despite the "A" in its name I've seen a number of Canadian reports there).

The report is fairly easy to complete, as it walks you through it step by step.

There do seem to have been a lot of Taurid fireballs this year. The Leonids, on the other hand, usually are a lot fainter. Hope you get to see a few tonight (forecasts vary as to whether it'll be clear here or not).

I recall finding out as a young hatchling that my stargazing interest had appeared too late for me to see the legendary 1966 Leonid storm, where observers reported over 100,000 meteors/hour. (As it happens the North American West Coast was favored so I wouldn't have seen much anyway). The wait till the next storm, in 1999, seemed to take forever. And then to find out that Jupiter had pushed his wait around and delayed that storm to 2001 and 2002? But it was a sight to see - several hundred each hour even from the northern suburbs. Most were relatively faint, magnitude 0 or dimmer. Ah, memories.

I woke up this morning for a -3.4 ISS pass, and like jo I was surprised to see how far the stars have advanced in the morning: Orion sinking in the west and Leo already approaching the south.

Things to watch for in the coming nights: tonight (Nov. 16) the crescent Moon is low in the southwest, just to the upper left of faint Mars. Venus is still that bright light in the southeast before dawn; to its lower right is the dimmer star Spica in Virgo. And if you look about 10 degrees to the lower left of Venus, you may spot Saturn very low to the horizon, just beginning its appearance for the next year. Venus and Saturn will pass within a degree of each other November 26-27 - a sight worth seeing!

You know, I hadn't thought of reporting the fireball, but great idea! Thanks, stargazer. *bookmarks the website*

I woke up early to try and catch some Leonids, but alas, there was haze and wispy clouds and I saw nary a one. Not really surprised.

Ah, those -3.4 or -3.5 ISS passes are worth getting up to see!

the legendary 1966 Leonid storm, where observers reported over 100,000 meteors/hour.

Astounding!

Venus and Saturn will pass within a degree of each other November 26-27 - a sight worth seeing!

Looking forward to this!

I had a delightful viewing yesterday morning throughout the minute of 6:51 a.m. During the first half minute, two Iridium flares were visible in the sky one immediately after the other—the brightness of the first at -6.5; the next, following close on the tail of the first, at -3.4. I saw them in the sky together and could probably put a finger and a half width between them. It honestly looked like the second was chasing the first. They were in the SE. I then turned 180° to see an ISS pass beginning in the NW and traveling across to the SE. The magnitude was -1.9. Another great way to begin the day!

Glad you got to see that double flare, jo! Sounds like fun - especially topped off with an ISS pass.

The Leonids - not to mention the Venus-Saturn conjunction last week - were clouded out here. Anyone have better luck?

Now Venus and Saturn point the way to dimmer, lower Mercury in the morning skies. More info and a star chart. If it clears up tonight I think I'll give it a go.

As I mentioned in the Weather thread, though the solstice and the shortest day (in the Northern Hemisphere) are still about 3 weeks off, this week marks the time of the earliest sunset in mid-northern latitudes (around Dec 7). The sun slowly begins to set later each night after that.

Happy Solstice! At 1112 GMT/UTC today (5:12 am in my time zone), the sun reached the southernmost point in its annual journey through the zodiac and began moving northward again. It's the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, marking the beginning of astronomical winter there as well as astronomical summer in the Southern.

I had the chance to briefly view the Geminids from Kansas last week - how fun to enjoy them, and the sight of Orion and entourage, without needing a coat. Some local security lights interfered, though I did see one nice meteor travel about 35 degrees from Polaris toward Deneb.

The Cassini spacecraft will have ringside seats for a transit of Venus as seen from Saturn today. Now that's unique! (Some of the 2012 apocalypse hoopla included a prediction of a Venus transit from earth today - but that came in June and won't be seen here again until 2117).

If it is clear where you are this Christmas night, check out the close conjunction of Jupiter and the moon. If you live in parts of South America you may even be able to see the moon occult (cover up) the giant planet.

Got back from supper a little bit ago. Even with light cloud cover the moon is starkly sharp in all it's full glory. I can still make out Jupiter as well.
I am determined to get out a couple times with the telescope this winter, I just have to motivate myself enough that the cold is worth it.

I always enjoy reading the posts in this topic. Somehow they make my heart beat faster. There is nothing quite like the glory of the heavens!

We have had a lot of cloud-cover lately, but last night the sky cleared for a wee bit for me to see the Full Cold Moon of December, and what a sight through the naked trees. Gorgeous! Breathing in that crisp winter air and gazing at the sky with bright Jupiter shining so clearly was simply lovely.

I also enjoyed some stargazing in KS a couple of weeks ago, and always treasure these times with other NarniaWebbers. I could kick myself, though, because somehow I had in my head that the Geminid peak was Friday night, December 14, when it was actually the night/morning before, so missed the prime viewing whilst getting organized indoors.

It was indeed fun observing Orion in December in shirt-sleeves last month.

Now it's either rather cold (-20C here) or really hot (up to 50C Down Under) depending on where you live, but this upcoming Monday offers a treat that is worth checking out.

Jupiter will be extremely close to the Moon, even disappearing behind it for parts of South America. This may be a chance to see Jupiter before sunset (in broad daylight) since the Moon will act as a guide. Read more here:

Jupiter Dances with the Moon

Gorgeous night for stargazing here.

The great hunter stood stalwart, his sword raised high as he saluted each of the seven sisters, who twinkled their dim silver eyes as they returned his gesture with a noble and slow curtsey. To their backs, the fiery eye of Jupiter, and the molten silver moon were fixed in a competition of blazing brightness.

Down below. . . far from the world of the stars, the wind crept along the ground of earth. The trees whispered to one another in a susurrus hush, their joints creaking as they spoke. A lone bird chirruped in the distance.

All was calm.