The December Conjunction

On the 8th of December provided that you are blessed with clear skies, don’t hesitate to go out and enjoy a beautiful conjunction between the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. If you turn towards the southwest after sunset, you’ll see the three bodies beautifully aligned near the horizon. The Moon, Jupiter and Saturn are in the Capricornus constellation while Venus is straying away in the constellation of Sagittarius.

The Moon is still a thin line, but the three planets are very easy to find. If you have a pair of binoculars, you will see Jupiter and its main four moons. With my TS Optics 15 × 70 binoculars, I can see the craters on our own Moon and I can distinguish the rings of Saturn. With a telescope you may see the crescent Venus, which is otherwise very bright with the naked eye and you will also be able to admire the rings of Saturn.

With a DSLR camera on a tripod, you can capture the whole conjunction depending on the lens. You can have fun playing with the exposure—too long and the planets will draw a line on the image (remember, Earth is rotating), too short and you won’t see much!