Jupiter and Venus

02/20/12, 6:30 pm, looking west

The sky cleared and the day was cloudless and cool. The sun melted most of the snow creating slush in the shadows. By evening the planets shone bright in the darkening sky.


Here is Jupiter at the top and Venus below. At 6:30 pm, the sky still has a bit of twilight left and is not completely dark. The planets are welcome beacons in the west seeming to indicate that spring is just about to arrive.

Jupiter and the waxing crescent moon

01/29/12, 8 pm, looking west

This smirking moon smiles like the Cheshire cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Last night's cool darkness was the perfect foil to this cat-like grin, the waxing crescent moon at 43 percent illumination.


There are several stories of the origin of the Cheshire cat including carvings on churches, St Wilfrid's in Grappenhall, Cheshire, St Nicolas in Cranleigh, Surrey and St Christopher's church in Pott Shrigley, Cheshire. The latter has the carving that most resembles the illustration of the cat in the book. The story I like best on the Wikipedia page is about the cheese molds in Cheshire: 

cheese was formerly sold in Cheshire moulded like a cat that looked as though it was grinning. The cheese was cut from the tail end, so that the last part eaten was the head of the smiling cat.

The moon was just north of Jupiter which was the brightest planet in the sky last night. Tonight Venus shines bright in the southwest, maybe rivaling Jupiter's brilliance.

Cold, vast space

01/15/12, 8 pm. facing up and west

On a day with no clouds, here's a cold, crisp night with planets and stars putting on a wonderful show. What are all those heavenly bodies? Well, the only one I can absolutely identify is beautiful, bold Jupiter on the far left.


Here are the candidates for the stars. In the top middle, perhaps Alpheratz with Algenib below. On the right in the upper corner, perhaps Alderamin with Deneb in the lower right. If you were able to continue your gaze to the right, you'd see Polaris.

Moon with Aldebaran and Jupiter

1/6/12, about 7:30 pm, looking up and southeast

By rights, this moon should be rounder at 84% illumination. I don't know how I came up with this lopsided ellipse on Friday, January 6th. Aldebaran is closest to the moon, a round, yellowish glow. Jupiter is in the right corner, bright and strong in the darkness.


The night sky in winter is a crisp delight.

Almost full moon and Jupiter

November 9th


Here is last night's almost full moon (95% illumined) and Jupiter. Painted at about 10 pm and looking straight up in the night sky, the moon shown very brightly and Jupiter held its own beside her. The forecast for tonight's full moon includes overcast skies which will obscure it so I thought it better to take a portrait while I could. I really like the feeling of light around the moon.

Waxing gibbous moon with Jupiter and Hamal

November 7th was beautiful clear night after a cool and cloudless day. The waxing gibbous moon was at 82% illumination and was kept company in the east at 7:30 pm by Jupiter (lower left) and Hamal (upper left). Hamal is the brightest star in the constellation Aries and is known by astronomers as Alpha Arietis.


This drawing was made with 4B and 8B Derwent sketching pencils which add richness and texture. The moon's face is completely unintentional but shows where the idea of the man in the moon originated. When one really looks, there's a semblance of a face.

Jupiter's big night

On October 27th, Jupiter was in opposition to the sun and at its closest point to earth and its brightest light for the next 11 years. This painting was done on October 26th at about 10 pm facing the east because I knew that the sky would be completely overcast on the 27th. Planet Jupiter out shown all the stars on this night.


Sometimes during the evening, the altocumulus clouds obscured Jupiter. I chose a moment when the clouds were moving away to the northeast (upper left in the painting). 


Altocumulus clouds appear as parallel bands of puffy clouds in warm weather and indicate coming rain or thunderstorms.

Waning gibbous moon and Jupiter

This waning gibbous moon of October 15th is dramatically different from the previous night. The shape plainly shows that it is past the full moon and on the way to the last quarter moon on the 19th.


This painting, done 24 hours after the previous one, was painted about 9 pm on October 15 again facing east--a cool clear night full of stars and planets, and space.

Waning moon and Jupiter

Friday, October 14th was cloudless, cool and lovely. Completely lacking in humidity, the atmosphere was clear and sharp with a myriad of stars shining in the night sky. This likeness of the rising, past-full moon and Jupiter was taken at about 9 pm facing east.


On this night, the moon and Jupiter were the brightest objects in the sky.  Here's a poem by Henry David Thoreau called "The Moon":


The full-orbed moon with unchanged ray
Mounts up the eastern sky,
Not doomed to these short nights for aye,
But shining steadily.

She does not wane, but my fortune,
Which her rays do not bless,
My wayward path declineth soon,
But she shines not the less.

And if she faintly glimmers here,
And paled is her light,
Yet alway in her proper sphere
She's mistress of the night. 

Hunter's moon and Jupiter

From the 2011 Old Farmer's Almanac, under the entry for October:

The month belongs to Jupiter, which rises at sunset in Aries, is near the moon on the 13th, and is closest to the earth on the 27th at a blazing magnitude -2.9. Appearing almost 50 arcseconds in width and looking wonderful through telescopes, Jupiter makes its closest visit until 2022. No other planet is worthwhile this month.

Last night, the moon and Jupiter put on a dramatic show playing hide and seek with fast-moving clouds headed north. October 13th was a dramatic weather day, indeed, with several tornadoes wreaking havoc in Virginia. This watercolor was painted about 10 pm facing east with occasional showers from the quick clouds.


According to the Farmer's Almanac, the full hunter's moon was an opportunity to hunt after the fields were harvested and before winter's cold arrived. Hunters could easily see nocturnal animals like foxes who emerged to glean the fallen grain.

Jupiter!

Yes, the clouds parted last night and I saw Jupiter in the eastern sky at about 10 pm. After a day of heavy rain and heavier cloud cover, it was wonderful to see the night sky. What an unexpected pleasure to see the planet Jupiter framed by wispy clouds in the lower middle of this watercolor.


The cloud color is that glowing dull white (really pale blue gray) that provides such a sharp contrast to the blue-black night sky. There are a few pencil marks in this painting where I sketched in the complex cloud outlines in the dark.