Night Sky Photography -- 10-06/07-2026 -- The Moon & Planet Parade In Eastern Sky

Greetings fellow amateur stargazers!

Over the last few mornings I woke up about an hour, or so, before sunrise to capture a few wonderful shots of a couple of night sky wonders over the course of two days.

The first shots, taken on Tuesday, October 6th, show our beautiful moon in the early morning sky about 45 minutes before sunrise with the large planet, Jupiter, and its four largest moons visible. About two hours before, Luna occulted (passed in front of) Jupiter in its orbit eastward towards the sunrise. The photos I took show the planet emerging from behind the moon along with a close-up shot detailing the gas giant planet's four largest visible moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

The second set of photos, taken on Wednesday, October 7th, show our lovely crescent moon leading a parade of planets that include Jupiter and Mars, as well as the bright star, Regulus -- the brightest object in the Constellation Leo the Lion.

 

The first shot shows Luna along with Regulus and the two planets aligned in a "parade" headed towards the rising sun in the eastern sky about 45 minutes before sunrise.

The next is a close-up of Mars, which is currently about 149,615, 458 miles (or 240,731,272 kilometers -- about 1.61 Astronomical Units) away from Earth and on its way towards its next opposition to Earth in February of 2027, so the Red Planet will be get bigger and more visible in the night sky.

The third shot is another close-up of Jupiter and three of its large moons (Europa was hiding behind Jupiter). Jupiter is currently about 540,213,623 miles (or 869,203,719 kilometers -- about 5.81 AUs) from the Earth.

Regulus is actually a quadruple star system made up of two pairs of bright stars about 79 light years (or 24.2 parsecs) from our Solar System. Collectively the Regulus system is the twenty-first brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth.

I hope to have more night sky photography soon, there are several celestial events that I am hoping to being y'all images of happening later this month. Stay tuned and keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all.

Monday Meme: In Memory Of Tim Curry (1946-2026)

 

Monday Meme: Slasher Films & Gen X

The boring part was sitting though all the adult stuff waiting for Jason to get them.

Night Sky Photography -- 09-26-2026 -- The Full Harvest Moon & Saturn With Neptune In Opposition

 

Greetings & Salutations fellow stargazers!

Last night I was blessed with clear skies and a wonderful view of the September full moon -- also known as the Harvest Moon here in North America.

This year the full Harvest Moon was positioned close to the ringed planet, Saturn -- the second largest planet in our Solar System.

At present Saturn, the 6th planet of our Solar System, is about 785 million miles (or 1.26 billion kilometers, or 8.44 Astronomical Units) away from our Earth.

Saturn appears extra bright and close as its currently approaching its yearly opposition with Earth which will occur on Sunday, October 4, 2026.

The 8th planet of our Solar System, Neptune, reached its opposition to Earth in its orbit around the Sun this evening at approximately 2.7 billion miles (or 4.3 billion km, or 28.9 AU) from our planet.

Neptune was also positioned closely with Saturn and the Harvest Moon in the night sky, in a sort of elongated triangle.

Unfortunately the next to the last planet in our Solar System (Pluto is still a planet!) was still too far away to photograph, though I did point out where it would be located in my photograph below.

As y'all can see from my cover photo and below, I was able to capture a couple of really great shots of the Harvest Moon and Saturn through the tree in my front yard, framing our lovely Luna in a halo of early fall leaves.

I hope y'all enjoyed my photos, and I hope to have more soon.

Northern Cardinals Visiting My Backyard Feeders

 

Hello fellow amateur birdwatchers!

I have some photos of a wonderful family of Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) that have been visiting my backyard feeders for the last few months. These include the bright and beautiful male cardinals, the lovely reddish-olive females, and several awesome brown juveniles.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, these beautiful birds are common year-round in the eastern and central parts of North America from the south-eastern parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada to the Yucatan Peninsula in southern Mexico. They are also the official State Bird of the U.S. State of North Carolina. 

These are also the most frequent visitors to my backyard bird feeders yearly and a joy to watch. They can also be seen sharing with several of the smaller House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) and the occasional Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) and Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor).

These photos were taken by me between mid-July to early September of 2026.