In March 2012 Venus and Jupiter were well placed for observing in the west at dusk and after sunset. As Jupiter sank lower over time, Venus was rising, until in mid March Venus passed Jupiter. For a couple of nights they were side by side, until Venus crossed from being below Jupiter to being above Jupiter. The closest pass was on March 13th.
I took images every night it was clear enough as Venus closed on, passed and pulled away from Jupiter, missing the 13th itself but capturing the pair the next night. Most nights I was just getting the images before cloud or fog obscured everything. Working with only a fixed photographic tripod, only a few seconds exposure was possible, and on only one night was I really able to capture stars in the image.
The images are reproduced full size below.
To add the cherry to the icing on the cake, a few days later, with the two planets still relatively close, the crescent new Moon passed Jupiter on March 25th and Venus the following night, and it stayed clear.
And it still wasn't over.............
Although all the aspects of the conjunction were over, there was still a last word to be had, and just over a week later Venus tramped beautifully through the sparkling jewels of the Pleiades. The weather was clear for long enough.
