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I have been watching the bright blob of Jupiter (UK) this winter and assumed that to the naked eye Saturn was just merged in there too close to seperate. Is thi
by gandalfian 6y ago
I have been watching the bright blob of Jupiter (UK) this winter and assumed that to the naked eye Saturn was just merged in there too close to seperate. Is this right or was one of the near by stars actually Saturn and I didn't realize? Thanks
- baggy_trough 6y agoThey are not merged - Saturn is about as far away as a moon diameter right now.
- gandalfian 6y agoAha the pale dot just diagonally top left of Jupiter must be Saturn then. From my skymap they appear to be touching so I assumed the seperate extra dot was m73 star. Now I know better. Much apreciated. Thank you for the reply.
- Stratoscope 6y agoSky Map shows the planets much larger than they really appear in the sky.
- stblack 6y agoThe moon's diameter is about 0.5°, same for the sun, give or take — think total or annular eclipses, they are very close in angular diameter, if not equal for all practical purposes. At this moment, December 5, 2020 at 4:20 PM Eastern, Jupiter and Saturn are 1.74° apart. So about 3.5 moon diameters apart right now. Estimating angles in the sky is very difficult. It's also subject to perception illusions, like the "Horizon Effect" in which the Sun and Moon appear larger that their 0.5° diameter when, in fact, there's no difference. Some say this effect explains why your penis looks small when you gaze down at it. It's hard to judge, sometimes.
- jfk13 6y agoI've also been enjoying the view from the UK (weather permitting). I don't have a telescope on hand, but realised this autumn that my camera -- nothing special, just a Panasonic bridge camera -- could clearly pick out the four main moons of Jupiter, so we could watch how they moved around the planet from night to night.