Venus, Mars and Saturn are slowly closing in for a triple conjunction coming Thursday – where they will be the closest they can get to one another – but are already forming really pretty patterns in the sky as of now.
In view of this, I’ve been using my parents’ rooftop garden as my little observatory, photographing the planets as the gradually gravitate towards one another. Hurhur. Thank goodness for the occasional clear nights in between the stormy days we’ve been having as of late.
Planetary conjunction as on 6th August 2010.
The sky appears pink in the pictures, no thanks to the light pollution that continually plagues Singapore. On a completely dark sky, the planets are supposed to appear much brighter than you see here, especially Venus.
Apparently, we’re also reaching the peak period of the perseids meteor shower as well, which coincides with the maximum planetary conjunction (Venus, Saturn and Mars) this coming Thursday. Oh, did I mention that the crescent moon will be joining the three planets for a quadruple conjunction too?
Planetary conjunction as on 9th August 2010.
Look ma, I caught a meteor!
Nah, I kid. It was actually a passing airplane. The skies here a wee bit too bright for proper meteor watching.
Lemme’ have clear skies this Thursday! I just hope I am able to crawl out of bed of witness and photograph the whole thing. (Going for some procedure coming Thursday morning where I’ll be all drugged up with IV, supposedly leaving me pretty much zonked out for the rest of the day … but I’ll haul my ass up to the rooftop by hook or by crook!)
I’m a stargazer as well but most places in Asia are simply too bright and have way too many tall buildings! The bunch of friends and I had to go out to remote places with no street lights or toilets and lots of cow dung on the road to watch anything…
Argh, there is hardly anywhere in Singapore that is untainted with light pollution. :( The things we have to do to get a proper dark spot. Hmm.