Solar System - Conjunctions
Thin Moon with Venus and Saturn Conjunction (Landscape)
Venus in a close conjunction with dimmer Saturn in the evening twilight on January 22, 2023. They were 22 arc minutes apart this evening. The 1-day-old waxing crescent Moon is below the planet pair deep in the twilight. The magnitude 2.8 star Deneb Algiedi, aka Delta Capricorni, is faintly visible below Venus. Venus was magnitude -3.9 while Saturn was magnitude 0.8. This is a single 1-second exposure with the Canon RF70-200mm lens at 124mm and at f/5.6, on the Canon R5 at ISO 100. Taken from home in southern Alberta. Most processing done in Adobe Camera Raw with the aid of AI Sky and Inverted Sky masks. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar Neo. Noise reduction with ON1 NoNoise AI 2023. There is a portrait orientation version of this as well.
Thin Moon with Venus and Saturn Conjunction (Portrait)
Venus in a close conjunction with dimmer Saturn in the evening twilight on January 22, 2023. They were 22 arc minutes apart this evening. The 1-day-old waxing crescent Moon is below the planet pair deep in the twilight. The magnitude 2.8 star Deneb Algiedi, aka Delta Capricorni, is faintly visible below Venus. Venus was magnitude -3.9 while Saturn was magnitude 0.8. This is a single 0.8-second exposure with the Canon RF70-200mm lens at 171mm and at f/5.6, on the Canon R5 at ISO 100. Taken from home in southern Alberta. Most processing done in Adobe Camera Raw with the aid of AI Sky and Inverted Sky masks. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar Neo. Noise reduction with ON1 NoNoise AI 2023. There is a landscape orientation version of this as well.
Venus and Saturn in Winter Twilight (Jan 21, 2023)
Venus below dimmer Saturn in the evening twilight on January 21, 2023, the evening before their close conjuncton. The magnitude 2.8 star Deneb Algiedi, aka Delta Capricorni, is below and to the left of Venus. Venus was magnitude -3.9 while Saturn was magnitude 0.8. This is a single 0.8-second exposure with the Canon RF70-200mm lens at 103mn and at f/4, on the Canon R5 at ISO 400. Taken from home in southern Alberta. Most processing done in Adobe Camera Raw with the aid of AI Sky and Inverted Sky masks. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar Neo. Noise reduction with ON1 NoNoise AI 2023.
Mars, the bright orange object right of centre, is here amid the stars and constellations of the winter Milky Way in January 2023. Mars is in Taurus, above Aldebaran and the Hyades, and below the blue Pleiades. The stars of Auriga are at left. At top are stars in Perseus, including the reddish California Nebula. The interstellar Dark Clouds of Taurus are at centre. This is a stack of 7 x 2-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 40mm, on the stock Canon R5 at ISO 800. A single exposure through a Kase/Alyn Wallace Starglow filter blended in added the star glows. The main images were also shot through an URTH light pollution reduction filter. Taken from home January 10, 2023. There's another version of this shot at 35mm for a little wider framing of Auriga and Taurus.
Mars, the bright orange object right of centre, is here amid the stars and constellations of the winter Milky Way in January 2023. Mars is in Taurus, above Aldebaran and the Hyades, and below the blue Pleiades. The stars of Auriga are at left. At top are stars in Perseus, including the reddish California Nebula. The interstellar Dark Clouds of Taurus are at centre. This is a stack of 7 x 2-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 35mm, on the stock Canon R5 at ISO 800. A single exposure through a Kase/Alyn Wallace Starglow filter blended in added the star glows. The main images were also shot through an URTH light pollution reduction filter. Taken from home January 10, 2023. There's another version of this shot at 40mm for a little closer crop in on Auriga and Taurus.
This is the waxing gibbous Moon (11.7 days old) near reddish Mars (at upper right), both set in a swirl of clouds, looking like they are in an interstellar nebula. Diffraction from ice crystals in the clouds adds the colourful corona around the Moon. This was the Moon-Mars conjunction of January 3, 2023. Mars was then about a month past opposition. This is a blend of 6 exposures, from 5 seconds to 1/200th second, to compress the high dynamic range in brightness and recreate the view more as the eye saw it. Exposures blended with luminosity masks. All were with the Canon RF100-400mm lens at 300mm and f/8, and on the Canon R5 at ISO 400. The camera was on a tracking mount to prevent the stars from trailing. Diffraction spikes on Mars added for artistic effect with AstronomyTools Actions. A mild Orton Glow added with Luminar Neo.
Moon, Mars and the Hyades in Clouds
This is the waxing gibbous Moon (11.7 days old) near reddish Mars (above the Moon), and with reddish Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster below. All are set in a swirl of clouds, looking like they are in an interstellar nebula. Diffraction from ice crystals in the clouds adds the colourful corona around the Moon. This was the Moon-Mars conjunction of January 3, 2023. Mars was then about a month past opposition. This is a blend of 8 exposures, from 8 seconds to 1/500th second, to compress the high dynamic range in brightness and recreate the view more as the eye saw it. Exposures blended with luminosity masks created with Lumenzia. All frames were with the Canon RF100-400mm lens at 100mm and f/5.6, and on the Canon R5 at ISO 400. The camera was on a tracking mount to prevent the stars from trailing. Diffraction spikes added for artistic effect with AstronomyTools Actions. A mild Orton Glow added with Nik Collection/Color EFX.
The Quarter Moon Near Jupiter (Dec. 29. 2022)
The first quarter Moon near the planet Jupiter (at right) amid a hazy sky adding a colourful diffraction effect around the Moon — a lunar "corona." This is a blend of 6 exposures, from 8 seconds to 1/125th second, two stops apart, all at f/7.1 with the Canon RF100-400mm lens at 174mm and Canon R5 at ISO 400. Blended with luminosity masks to retain details on the disk of the Moon but with it set in the bright halo and moonlit sky. Jupiter at right mostly comes from the 2-second exposure, to minimize its trailing in this set of untracked camera-on-tripod exposures. The background sky and trailed stars come from the longest exposure. This was partly a test of this new lens as it was used here straight out of the box for the first time on this scene.
Christmas Evening Planets in Twilight
The waxing crescent Moon above the pairing of Mercury (highest) and Venus (lowest) at lower right in the evening twilight on Christmas Day, 2022. This night, and this Christmas week in 2022, all the naked eye planets were visible across the evening sky, but Mercury and Venus disappeared into the horizon clouds this evening before the sky darkened enough to shoot a panoroma of the scene, to catch dimmer Saturn in the southeast, plus Jupiter to the south and Mars to the east. This is a single exposure with the Canon R5 at ISO 100 and RF28-70mm lens at 70mm and f/4 for 0.3 sec.
The Occultation of Mars (December 7, 2022)
This is the occultation of Mars by the Full Moon on December 7, 2022, in a composite showing the motion of Mars relative to the Moon. The motion here is from left to right. However, while this composite makes it look like Mars was doing the moving, it was really the Moon that was passing in front of Mars. But for this sequence I set the telescope mount to track the Moon at its rate of motion against the background stars and Mars, to keep the Moon more or less stationary on the frame while Mars and the background sky passed behind it. Mars was at opposition this night and so was the Moon, so the Moon was full and Mars was at its brightest for this appearance in 2022. The size of the Martian disk was 17 arc seconds across this night and its magnitude was -1.8. Mars is twice the actual size of the Moon, but appears tiny here due to its greater distance — some 206 times farther away than the Moon. This night, the Moon was 397,000 kilometres away, near is apogee point, while Mars was 82 million kilometres away, a week after its closest approach. This is a blend of 40 exposures (20 pre-ingress at left and 20 post-egress at right) that each contained the Moon and Mars. The Moon image here is a single exposure taken at the end of the sequence when the sky was clearest. However, for many of the images, especially pre-ingress, the Moon and Mars were in light cloud and haze, adding the glow around the Moon. The sky is from a blend of all the images. I shot images at one per minute, but used only every second frame here, so the images are two minutes apart, taken over 40 minutes on ether side of ingress and egress. Each is a unique image subject to varying seeing conditions blurring some of the Mars disks more than others. This is not a composite made of the same "best" Mars image copied and pasted along what its path should have been. Even so, I still had to adjust the alignment somewhat for each image, as the field still drifted out over several minutes of tracking, causing me to recenter the field occasionally during the shoot. Exposures varied with the cloud cover but were from 1/200 to 1/40 sec, all with the Canon R5 camera at ISO 400 and on the Astro-Physics 130EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for an effective focal length of 1560mm at f/12. I've processed the image for high contrast on the lunar disk (using a Subject mask in Camera Raw) to emphasize its lunar seas and bright ray structures, such as from the crater Tycho at bottom, a relatively recent impact. I also brought out the sky colours from the clouds for added effect.
Full Moon and Mars at Occultation Ingress (Dec 7, 2022)
Mars is about to be occulted by the Full Moon on December 7, 2022. This is ingress with the eastward moving (i.e. right to left here) Moon about to cover up Mars on the Moon's western limb. The sky had thin cloud adding the colourful halo, or "corona," around the Moon, so the sky is not black. Mars was at opposition this night and so was the Moon, so the Moon was full and Mars was at its brightest for this appearance in 2022. The size of the Martian disk was 17 arc seconds across this night and its magnitude was -1.8. Mars is twice the actual size of the Moon, but appears tiny here due to its greater distance — some 206 times farther away than the Moon. This night, the Moon was 397,000 kilometres away, near is apogee point, while Mars was 82 million kilometres away, a week after its closest approach. This is a single 1/80-second exposure — it is not an exposure blend or composite — with the Canon R5 camera at ISO 400 and on the Astro-Physics 130EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for an effective focal length of 1560mm at f/12. I've processed the image for high contrast on the lunar disk (using a Subject mask in Camera Raw) to emphasize its lunar seas and bright ray structures, such as from the crater Tycho at bottom, a relatively recent impact. I also brought out the sky colours from the clouds for added effect.
Eclipsed Moon in Starfield with Uranus (Nov 8, 2022)
This is the totally eclipsed Moon of November 8, 2022 set in the stars of Aries, with the planet Uranus nearby, visible as the greenish star about three Moon diameters away from the Moon at the 10 o'clock position. Uranus was at oppostion the next night, November 9, at magnitude 5.6. I shot the set of images for this scene at about 3:28 a.m. MST, about 20 minutes after the start of this long totality, so the right (lunar eastern) limb of the Moon was still fairly bright. The field of view is about 7.6° by 5°. This is a blend of four exposures to compress the dynamic range and record the stars while maintaining the Moon more as the eye saw it. I blended a 5-second exposure at ISO 1600 for the stars, with 1-, 2-, and 5-second exposures at ISO 200 for the lunar disk, all with the Canon Ra on the SharpStar 61mm EDPH refractor with the Reducer/Flattener for f/4.6. The scope and camera were on the Star Adventurer tracker, turning at the sidereal rate for the long exposure for the stars but at the slower lunar rate for the shorter, lower ISO exposures for the Moon. Blending was with old-fashioned manual masking, not HDR routines or even luminosity masks. It was -25° C this night, and with several inches of snow having just fallen that day, so I kept the gear complexity to a minimum. However, using a 280mm focal length scope on the tracker was pushing it. Most long exposures for the starfield were trailed. I shot several sets of "HDR" exposures to be sure I got one that worked.
Mercury at Greatest Elongation at Dawn
Mercury a morning before its greatest western elongation in the eastern dawn sky, October 7, 2022. Taken from home in Alberta at latitude 51° N. A single 1-second image with the RF28-70mm lens at f/4 and 70mm and Canon Ra at ISO 100.
Jupiter and Saturn in September 2022
Jupiter (bright at left in Pisces) and Saturn (dimmer at right in Capricornus) low in the southeast sky on a mid-September evening in 2022. Jupiter was then nearing its opposition, and a close one at that in 2022, appearing brighter than it usually does at opposition. Jupiter appears below the Square of Pegasus at upper left. This was from home in southern Alberta at latitude 51° N. This is four tracked and stacked 1-mnute exposures blended with a single tracked 1-minute exposure for the ground, all with the Canon RF15-35mm lens at 18mm and f/2.8, and Canon R5 at ISO 1600, on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker. Taken on a night of lens testing as a "grab" shot. It serves to illustrate Jupiter rising near opposition. Light cloud added the natural glows on the stars and planets. No filter was used here.
Bright reddish Mars above the Hyades star cluster with yellow Aldebaran below Mars to serve as a "compare and contrast " to Mars. The blue Pleiades are at upper right. Two other NGC clusters in Taurus are in the frame: NGC 1647 to the left of the Hyades and NGC 1747 at the right edge of the frame. The small clusters NGC 1817 and 1807 are at lower left. The Taurus Dark Clouds are at upper left. Aldebaran is magnitude +1 while Mars was -0.2 this morning and getting brighter by the day as it approached its December opposition this year, 2022. I shot this on the morning of September 7, 2022 with some haze and smoke in the sky, so not the best for transparency. This is a stack of just 2 x 2-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the Rokinon 85mm RF lens on the Canon R5 at ISO 800, on the Star Advenrturer Mini tracker. A third exposure through the Kenko Softon A filter added the star glows for photogenic effect and to accentuate the colours.
The Waning Moon and Venus at Dawn (August 25, 2022) (Portrait)
The thin waning crescent Moon above Venus in the dawn sky on August 25, 2022, in a portrait oriented version. This is a single shot with the RF70-200mm lens at 110mm on the Canon R6. Diffraction spikes added with AstronomyTools actions.
The Waning Moon and Venus at Dawn (August 25, 2022) (Landscape)
The thin waning crescent Moon above Venus in the dawn sky on August 25, 2022, in a landscape oriented version. This is a single shot with the RF70-200mm lens at 70mm on the Canon R6.
Jupiter rising due east down a rural road on a moonlit July night. This was July 11-12, 2022, after midnight. Illumination is from the waxing gibbous Moon low in the south. This is a blend of a single 4-second untracked exposure for the sky with a stack of 5 x 4-second exposures for the ground, all with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 70mm and f/2.8 and Canon R5 at ISO 1250. The moons of Jupiter are resolved! ON1 NoNoise AI applied to the sky.
Dawn Twilight Panorama with Planets (June 26, 2022)
A panorama of the morning twilight on June 26, 2022, with the waning crescent Moon in conjunction with Venus low in the north-east and with Mars and Jupiter above. This shows the transition of colours across the spectrum in the dawn twilight. There is a faint wisp of noctilucent cloud at top above the star Capella. This illustrates the line of the ecliptic. And the "big sky" of a prairie dawn. This is a panorama cropped from 8 segments, each 0.8-seconds with the RF28-70mm lens at f/2.8, and Canon R5 at ISO 100. Stitched with Photoshop as Camera Raw oddly refused to stitch all the segments.
Conjunction of the Moon and Venus at Dawn with NLCs (June 26, 2022)
A wide-angle view of the conjunction of the waning crescent Moon with Venus low in the northeast dawn sky on June 26, 2022, taken from home in southern Alberta, latitude 51° N. Earthshine is visible on the dark side of the Moon. And above are some wispy noctilucent clouds, with the star Capella at left. The sky exhibits the wonderful transition of colours from the orange at the horizon through the spectrum to the blues at top. This is a single 0.8-second exposure with the RF28-70mm lens at 28mm and f/2.8 on the Canon R5 at ISO 100.
Conjunction of the Moon and Venus at Dawn (June 26, 2022)
The conjunction of the waning crescent Moon with Venus low in the northeast dawn sky on June 26, 2022, taken from home in southern Alberta, latitude 51° N. Earthshine is visible on the dark side of the Moon. The sky exhibits the wonderful transition of colours from the orange at the horizon through the spectrum to the blues at top. This is a single 0.8-second exposure with the RF28-70mm lens at 70mm and f/2.8 on the Canon R5 at ISO 100.
The Planet Array at Dawn with Labels (June 26, 2022)
A 180° panorama of the array of the planets in the dawn twiliight on June 26, 2022, with the thin waning crescent Moon just above Venus low in the northeast at centre. At left is a display of wispy noctilucent clouds. The planets from left to right in their correct order out from the Sun are: Venus (low), Mars & Jupiter, and Saturn (at far right). The Pleiades is faintly visible in the twilight above the Venus-Moon pairing. The previous two mornings, when the Moon was between Venus and Mars in the correct order out from he Sun, was alas cloudy. This is a panorama of 11 segments, each 4 seconds at f/2.8 with the RF28-70mm lens at 37mm, and Canon R5 at ISO 100. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
Conjunction of the Moon and Venus Rising at Dawn (June 26, 2022)
The conjunction of the waning crescent Moon with Venus as they were rising low in the northeast dawn sky on June 26, 2022, taken from home in southern Alberta, latitude 51° N. Earthshine is visible on the dark side of the Moon. The sky exhibits the wonderful transition of colours from the orange at the horizon through the spectrum to the blues at top. This is a single 1-second exposure with the RF70-200mm lens at 200mm and f/4 on the Canon R5 at ISO 400.
Conjunction of Moon, Venus and Pleiades (June 26, 2022)
A conjunction of the thin waning crescent Moon rising together with Venus low in the dawn sky, and below the Pleiades star cluster at top. Earthshine is just visible on the dark side of the Moon. This is a single 1.3-second exposure with the RF70-200mm lens at 108mm and f/4, and Canon R5 at ISO 400. Taken from home in southern Alberta at latitude 51° N.