14 DAY TRIAL // Tonight is one of those rare times when you get the chance to experience a celestial event that is really worth sacrificing your neck's comfort for a short while. From early in the evening of December 1st, the most bright visible objects in the darkened sky will form a stylized face (a smiley or emoticon for those who are up to date with modern Internet terminology), whose expression may appear different, depending on the location of the viewers.
The 3 objects involved in the celestial drawing are Jupiter and Venus, which will make up the eyes, as well as a slender Moon (more resemblant to the Arabic crescent symbol) that will complete the face in the form of a mouth. The best view for a classic smiley figure will be that from the Australian continent, from 8pm to 11pm local time, but the Moon will not smile down towards Europe or the US.
"I think it will be very spectacular," shares Sydney Observatory's astronomer Nick Lomb, quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald. "The three brightest objects in the night sky will all be in the same patch of the sky." Later into the evening, as the darkness will grow thicker, Dr. Lomb anticipates that "the smiley face" – with Venus as the left eye and Jupiter as the right one – "will improve and become a little more compact."
"It should be very easy to take a photograph with a digital camera and a tripod. Use a one-, two- or three-second exposure and, of course, no flash," adds the expert for those interested in capturing the event digitally. Perhaps knowing that another such opportunity will not be available very soon (the next one will only occur early in the morning of July 21, 2036) will convince more people to take pictures. The Sydney Observatory will be open for the whole night, allowing visitors to use its available instruments.