astronomy in tanzania

Hello All
There is an amazing show going on in the western sky soon after sunset.
Two very bright planets, Venus and Jupiter, are shiting their positions very distinctly day after day, from now until the end of November and beginning December.

Follow the attachments in serial order to follow the very noticeable shift in the relative positions of Venus and Jupiter. They are very far apart at the moment, but over the next 20 days, by the end of this month they will come very close together.

In fact on December the Moon joins in and and it will also show a distinct SHIFT in position relative to the two bright planets within a few hours after sunset on 1st December.

On that day, at sunset (around 6:30 pm), the crescent moon will be BELOW the pair posing a beautiful show with Venus to the left and Jupiter to the right, slightly lower. But by 8 pm it will be IN LINE with the two bright planets.
And by 9 pm while the trio are setting below the horizon in the west, the moon will be ABOVE two bright planets Venus.

I have given below an excerpt from my Night Sky article for this month that talks about this event.

Visit our website:

www.astronomy2009.ac.tz

for the full article and a lot of other information about astronomy in Tanzania and on the International Year of Astronomy 2009 which is only a couple of months away.

Excerpt from my article: Night Skies of November 2008.

The focus of our attention this month are the two brightest jewels in the sky: Venus and Jupiter. Venus is closer to the horizon in the west while Jupiter is higher in the same direction closer to zenith at sunset.

Both are in the constellation of Sagittarius; Venus below it and Jupiter above it. The two show very distinct movement as they approach each other over the course of the month and finally meeting together at the end of the month.

The closest approach is on 30th November separated by about two degrees (about 3 finger-widths). The day after, that is on 1st December the two bright planets together with the crescent moon pose a show of a lifetime. The moon will come in between Venus and Jupiter.

The more interesting thing to watch is the shift of the moon relative to the two planets. Soon after sunset, it will be below the pair forming an approximate right angled triangle.

But over the course of a few hours it will shift its position as the triangle is squeezed slowly as the crescent moon come in between the two planets to form a straight line by 8:30 pm.

The trio will be close to the horizon by that time so you will need to find a clear vantage point with a clean view of the western horizon as they set soon after 9 pm. Through a telescope, Jupiter four moons can be seen as pinpoints in a straight line.

The number of moons visible change as they revolve around the planet. These two facts show that the moons are orbiting Jupiter in a flat plane, similar to how the planets themselves orbit the sun.

Venus shows up as a oblong shape in a telescope since part of its face is on Venus night side. As the months go by Venus shape through a telescope will change dramatically as it approaches Earth in its orbit around the sun.

The shape will change to half phase with half the side on the daylight side and half in the night side. From then on until the beginning of March next year Venus will become dramatic in its shape and size when viewed through a telescope, as it changes to a crescent shape that becomes larger as the planet approaches closest to Earth by 10th March next year.

Over this period, Venus brightness remains almost the same since the decrease in its lighted area visible to us is compensated by its increasing apparent size.

Dr N T Jiwaji

Single Point of Contact for IYA2009 in Tanzania