Posted by Deborah Byrd in ASTRONOMY ESSENTIALS | TODAY’S IMAGE June 23, 2019
It was the closest conjunction of 2 planets in 2019, between Mercury and Mars. It happened low in the evening twilight – and was best seen from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere. Check out these photos from EarthSky Community members.
Dr Ski in Valencia, Philippines, caught Mars and Mercury on the day following their conjunction, June 19, 2019. The nearby stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini are a great comparison. Those 2 stars are noticeable for being bright and close together. Mercury and Mars were much closer! Thanks, Dr Ski!Wow! You can really see the color difference between red Mars (on the left) and Mercury in this photo from the day of the conjunction – June 18, 2019 – by Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Thanks, Peter!Here’s a June 17 photo from Jose Lagos in Vaals, Netherlands. He wrote, “This was the last image I could get before June 18, when it was too cloudy near the horizon, but you can see that the conjunction is nearly perfected. It was beautiful to behold even this much of it. Thank you for your time and your great work at Earth Sky.” Thank you for your photo and kind words, Jose!Gilbert Vancell caught the planets on June 18, too, and wrote: “Mercury (top) and Mars setting behind Comino Tower. Shot from Armier, Malta.”Helio C. Vital captured in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 18, 2019. He wrote, “Despite the fact that many clouds were floating over my western horizon this evening, I could get some photos of Mercury and Mars only 14 arcminutes apart over Rio de Janeiro at dusk (from 17:45 to 18:30 UTC-3h, June 18, 2019).Forming a beautiful close pair through binoculars, Mercury was an easy naked-eye target while Mars (4.4 times dimmer) required the use of averted vision to be briefly spotted. Hope my images can help give you an idea of what the interesting event looked like.”
Bottom line: Photos from the night of and around the June 18, 2019, conjunction of Mercury and Mars, closest conjunction of two planets this year.
ooOOoo
I hope a few of you enjoyed today’s Picture Parade.
Concise and insightful. I could only imagine the math involved in measuring the distance between the two planets. In the sky, however, it’s a magnificent view
Welcome to this place! I hope you enjoy my ramblings and look forward to seeing you again. And, specifically, it’s hard to imagine the physics involved in this, and so many other astronomical matters, so just marvelling at the sight is alright!
Learning from Dogs 
Always love astronomy photos! Great share.
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Me too! In fact as long as I can remember all things to do with space have interested me. Thank you, Susan!
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I love anything to do with space & science fiction.
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Brilliant!
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impressive lesson
from the planets!
good doggy 🙂
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And returned to you! 😎
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Concise and insightful. I could only imagine the math involved in measuring the distance between the two planets. In the sky, however, it’s a magnificent view
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Welcome to this place! I hope you enjoy my ramblings and look forward to seeing you again. And, specifically, it’s hard to imagine the physics involved in this, and so many other astronomical matters, so just marvelling at the sight is alright!
LikeLike