The last few nights (in the early evening) I've noticed 2 bright "stars" that are close to the moon. For lack of exact directions here's the best I can do. The moon is in the southern sky and just below it and to the right (west) there is a bright star (I assume this is really a planet) and a little lower and further to the right (west again) is a somewhat dimmer star (again probably a planet). It seems as though the "stars" move away from the moon fairly quickly. If I had to guess, I'd say the brighest one is Venus and the other is Mars, but it's only a guess. Can anyone enlighten me on what I'm seeing?

On a different note, last night around 11:00 local time I saw 4 meteors in rapid sequence in almost the exact same place in the sky.

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Dave
Fire is the leading cause of fire.
Was once SAM#0132

Venus and Jupiter : http://www.covingtoninnovations.com...og/0812/#081202

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Roy
nar12605

Just a quick astonomy tip.

This usually works but there are times when the weather and air conditions make it not so.

If it twinkles. (sort of a flicker) it's a star.

If it's bright and steady, it's a planet.

This is usually the case...but not always!

You can see this pheonomenon a little better with binoculars.

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"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

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A rare convergence. Venus, Jupiter and the moon. Some of the pictures on the web are pretty cool.

Missed it here since we haven't seen the sky in nearly a week. We did get to see Venus and Jupiter together last week though.

I forgot all about it. I meant to check it out on Monday. I did see the two planets together without the moon last Friday night though when I was up north. Pretty cool.

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Scott D. Hansen
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Scott, aren't you always up North?

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John Thro, NAR #84553 SR
I was too old when I started! Now I'll *never* become a BAR!

As a little extra, the dimmer of those two "stars" is Jupiter, the brighter one is Venus. As for the conjunction, it made a nice smiley face but it was cloudy here on the best night. Here's a beautiful shot from Australia. If you view this link more than a day or two after it's posted, it won't be there....moved to the archives.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/im...-mikesalway.jpg


.

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I love sanding.

Here in Houston, it was a frowny face, as the moon had moved past Venus and Jupiter by the time it was night time here.

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John Thro, NAR #84553 SR
I was too old when I started! Now I'll *never* become a BAR!

Thanks for all the quick responses. Looks like I was 50/50, which is about par for me.

Great photo, I haven't seen the two above the moon, just below and to the right. I guess it might have someting to do with your "global positioning".

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Dave
Fire is the leading cause of fire.
Was once SAM#0132

Yeah, I love that photo. If you look really closely (or blow the picture up) you can also see two of Jupiter's moons.

Another key to identifying planets - they will always be found along the same path in the sky that is taken by the Sun (the ecliptic).

Mark \\.

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