Lunar and Planetary Conjunction on August 21, 2012

by Nancy Atkinson on August 22, 2012

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Last night — if you were in a good location — the Moon, Spica, Mars, Saturn all came together in a lunar/planetary/stellar conjunction. My attempts to see it and capture it failed because of trees (the conjunction took place low on the horizon), but thank goodness for our astrophotographer friends! John Chumack caught the event from his observatory in Ohio (his specs: Canon Rebel Xsi 85mm Lens at F5.6, ISO 400, 1 second exposure) and Ian Musgrave captured the view in Australia, below.

The line-up of the Moon, Mars (top middle), Saturn (right) and the star Spica (left) imaged on 22 August 2012 at 6:45 pm ACST from Adelaide, Australia. Image taken with a Canon IXUS at ASA 400, 15 second exposure. Credit: Ian Musgrave

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About

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.

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