APOD 2008 Nov 29 - Venus, Jupiter, Milky Way, Teapot

[apodman]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081129.html

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/ ... letsky.jpg

I figured this picture from Chile would be "upside down", but I still had to look a while to find the "Teapot" in Sagittarius. It's just to the lower left of the bright planets, with its lid facing to 4:30 and its spout to 7:00.



For comparison, see how far Venus has moved since this photo from November 19 (from the "a spectacular sight" link in the APOD description - a NASA photo by Stephen O'Meara).

[nightowl]

ON looking closely at the Jupiter it appears as if the Jupiter moons are visible. Is this an illusion or real?

[apodman]

... it appears as if the Jupiter moons are visible. Is this ... real?

Refer to ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081204.html

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0812/Mo ... omp600.jpg

Jupiter, at the upper right about 2 degrees from Venus and Moon, is sporting moons of its own seen as tiny pinpricks of light on either side of the bright planet.

After examining the large picture at full size, I could see one Jovian moon close in at 10:00 with respect to the planet. After I dusted my screen and scrolled up and down, I could see another moon at 4:00 farther out.

Using that photo as a reference, I came back to the November 29 APOD and your question. After looking carefully, I can't see any spot that would distinguish itself as a Jovian moon rather than a background star. They are likely to be there, but I just can't tell. I would expect the Jovian moons in the November 29 APOD to be aligned parallel to the ecliptic (lower left to upper right, unless I'm twisted around). Of course, the November 29 APOD is a much deeper exposure than the December 4 APOD (which had Earth's moon to contend with), so it's hard to compare.

[nightowl]

I zoomed in on the pics and cropped (no rotation) them and here are two copies of the zoomed and cropped version which show the moons at the right place. I used stellaruium to verify that. The only thing that those could be (besides Jovian moons) background stars or some lens artifact.

VenJpt_beletsky11.png (7.54 KiB) Viewed 3384 times

VenJpt_beletsky1.png (6.79 KiB) Viewed 3361 times