On February 23, 1999, a spectacular conjunction of Jupiter and Venus took place.   The two planets passed within 0.2 degrees of each other, and were about 0.3 degrees apart when this photo was taken.  Venus is the brighter of the two objects in the image.  In the foreground is Bob Stephens' C-8, mounted on a GM-8, which was used to take the close-up image of the conjunction.

Instrument:  Kodak DC120 digital camera
Exposure:  1/4 second                  
Date:  February 23, 1999
Location:  Rancho Cucamonga, California, USA
Technical Notes:  This image was taken by Bob Stephens from the roof of his office building.  Seeing conditions were quite good; later in the evening we observed Hadley Rille on the Moon with my C-9.25.