Before Christmas, I went on a family trip to the sea for about a week.
A 10-hour drive 600 kilometers from Nairobi, the whole family, a trip to Land Cruiser, swimming, seafood, and three children have fully enjoyed the sea.
Put that much in the introduction
On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will be closest.
It's also a super close approach.
This time, I will talk about the approach.
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Everyone knows that the largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter, followed by Saturn, which has a unique appearance with a large ring.
Jupiter overtakes Saturn about every 20 years due to the relationship between these two large planets that orbit the outside of Mars and the orbital period.
That overtaking will happen at the end of this year.
Before and after the opposition that is in line with the sun, the earth, and the outer planets, the planets are retrograde, and they appear to move from west to east on the constellations, contrary to the actual operation of the planets.
In rare cases, such a backlit timing may occur when Jupiter overtakes Saturn.
When a meeting occurs at that time, a phenomenon of repeating three approaches can be seen, albeit with a small change in distance.
It seems that such a phenomenon is called a triple meeting.
This time it's not a triple meeting, but it's a little special approach.
The phenomenon that Jupiter overtakes Saturn occurs regularly once every 20 years, which is a sober phenomenon, but the angle at the time of the closest approach is extremely close.
This great approach took place on December 21, with the closest approach here (Kenya) at 21:56 (+3).
At this time, Jupiter and Saturn have already sunk, so the closest moment cannot be seen from Kenya.
From Kenya, which has a time difference of 6 hours from Japan, you can see a closer figure.
At that distance, the angular distance is 6'(0.1 degrees) so that it can be in the same field of view in the telescope.
The apparent angular diameter of the moon and sun is about 1/5 of that of 30'(0.5 degrees), which is close enough to be in the same field of view of a high-magnification telescope.
Looking at the Stella Navigator 95, how often Jupiter and Saturn approach each other over the last 1000 years.
Next time is 6'on March 14, 2080, I think it's about several decades, then 7'on July 7, 2417. This is followed by 5'on August 25, 2417, 7'on July 7, 2477, and 3'on December 23, 2874, which is the closest in 1000 years.
It seems unlikely that people who are alive now will be seen at the next approach.
That's the infrequent super-approach phenomenon.
However, it is a familiar phenomenon.
In the starry sky, the appearance of Jupiter and Saturn, which is about to approach a week later, December 13
On a trip, after the sun went down, I went out to the beach.
Jupiter (bottom) and Saturn (top) can be seen in the west sky, which is close to the approach. (Two bright stars between the boat poles)
From now on December 21st, the two planets will come closer than you can see in the picture.
When I took this picture, the power went out at the right time and the bright streetlight in the foreground went out.
Thanks to that, the brightness was just right.
Power outages are a daily occurrence, and most hotels are equipped with backup power generators.
However, power outages haven't happened as often as they used to.
If Japan becomes a power outage powerhouse, everyone is likely to have a perfect backup.
Will it be ...
The purpose of going out to the beach is to see the approach of Jupiter and Saturn, but on this day, the maximum day of the Gemini meteor shower, I was hoping that even one of the shooting stars could be seen from the beach.
However, I could not see any shooting stars.
Well, that should be it, it is dawn if you see a shooting star.
The meteor, which is generated when Chile floating in outer space collides with the Earth's atmosphere, collides with it because the direction of travel of the Earth's orbit is overwhelmingly in the morning.
In the evening, on the back side, it is not zero, but it is rarely seen.
I will cover this observation of shooting stars in the next blog.
Jupiter and Saturn sinking beyond the palm leaves, December 12
Going back one day, the approach of Jupiter and Saturn on December 12th.
The planets sink to the west, but the outer planets are moving eastward on the celestial sphere (upper photo).
This is a phenomenon in which Jupiter and Saturn line up in a straight line when viewed from the earth.
How much can Saturn be captured with a 300mm telephoto lens? I was a little worried, so the photo below is a magnified view of what I took with the exposure adjusted to Saturn.
Saturn in 300mm, camera is D800E, 1/40 second f4 open
It is obvious that it is different from other general planets that are oval and round.
Furthermore, when the image is expanded, the shade of the planet in the center looks slightly brighter than the ring.
The shape of the ring emerges.
Well, that's because I know what Saturn looks like.
Jupiter and Saturn have been entertaining the night sky for a while.
The close proximity of these two planets at the end of the year is a good event to see the appearance of the two planets.
Although it is a familiar phenomenon that Jupiter and Saturn approach each other, there is a story that the star of Bethlehem is this Saturn and Jupiter, which foretold the birth of Christ.
Why don't you take a look at the two planets lined up in the west sky after the sun sets at this time when Christmas is just around the corner?
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