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Jupiter & Uranus, September 2010 & January 2011

 

Jupiter was 0.806 degrees away from Uranus on 2010 Sep 19.0. That presented a possibility of photographing both planets together through a telescope. It was not easy because Jupiter at magnitude -2.9 was very much brighter than Uranus at 5.7. The planets will be even closer together (0.53 degrees) early in January 2011. Use this applet to see:

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The planet coordinates are calculated using the VSOP87 method (see J.Meeus "Astronomical Algorithms" (2nd edn) Chapter 32). Star data came from the Hipparcos and Tycho data files.

 Photo 2010 Sep 11

This was the best I could do from my light-polluted site in September. There were no clear nights nearer the best date.

Chart and photo of Jupiter near Uranus

Canon EOS 5DMkII 100-400mm+2x @ 800mm 1.6s f/11 ISO6400 2010-09-011 21:05 UT

 Photo 2011 Jan 6

Jupiter and Uranus on 2011 January 6th

Canon EOS5DMkII 254mm Newtonian @1200mm f/4.8 2s ISO800 2011-01-06 19:04 UT
From Rookhope 54.8N 2.1W 330m asl. Rural, almost no light pollution (3 Bortles)

2 days after Jupiter's closest (0.5 degree) approach to Uranus. Uranus is the bright "star" near top left. Jupiter and satellites at the bottom: Callisto and Europa on the left (east) of Jupiter, Ganymede on the right (Io lost in the glare).

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