Scorpius in the snow! We normally associate Scorpius with the spring and summer months, but here he is creeping into the sky before sunrise on a January morning in winter. On this morning Scorpius was home to a gathering of the waning crescent Moon east of Mars (near centre) which is above equally red Antares in Scorpius, with the head of Scorpius at right, as it rises into the winter dawn sky, on January 21, 2020. Antares is considered the “rival of Mars” as they are both red. Mars was just beginning its excellent apparition for the year of 2020, but was still dim and far away at this point in its orbit. The Moon was close to Mars the morning before but it was cloudy! This is an exposure blend of long exposures for the sky and ground and short exposures for the Moon to reduce it brightness and make its disk and Earthshine more visible, especially with it in thin cloud. All were with the 50mm Sigma lens on the Canon EOS Ra.
Waxing Moon over Timor Cottage, Coonabarabran, NSW.
Nova Sagittarii 2015 (arrowed) at magnitude +5 or so and fading, after peaking at mag 4 the previous week. The nova star is likely a white dwarf drawing material from a companion star and flaring into brilliance when the accumulated material erupts in a thermonuclear explosion. The nova is in the centre of the “teapot” configuration of Sagittarius the archer, with Scorpius at right in this frame, taken at dawn on March 26, 2015 from New Mexico, with the 50mm lens and Canon 6D for a stack of 3 x 2 minute exposures at f/2.8 and ISO 800. Numerous Messier objects are in the frame, notably the star clusters M6 and M7 just right of centre, and the nebula M8 above centre.
