Night Sky Photography -- 06-20-2022 -- Parade Of Planets & Last Quarter Moon

Greetings, Salutations, and Happy Summer Solstice, Y'all!

Early this morning I woke up in time to capture some really good shots of the Last Quarter Moon along with four of our planetary neighbors in the early morning sky.

Throughout this month its possible to see all five of the traditional "wandering stars" (planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) in the early morning sky about an hour before sunrise in a line across the eastern sky.

If you're fortunately enough to live someplace with little obstruction on the horizon, it might be possible to see all five planets in a line across the sky.

Unfortunately for me, little Mercury currently lies too close to the horizon behind the trees for me to get a clear shot at the moment, though as it slowly begins to rise in the eastern sky ahead of the sunrise, I should be able to get a better chance before the end of this month.

Today though, I was able to capture four of the planets -- although they were too far apart for me to photograph into one frame, I was able to get some really good shots.

The first photo shows Mars, Jupiter, Luna, and Saturn in more or less a straight line across the southeastern sky overhead. The second is bright Venus a little further from Mars towards the horizon.

 

My third photograph is a close-up of the Last Quarter Moon that highlights most of the visible features of the "Man on the Moon" with the Earth's shadow cutting across half of the lunar surface.

And speaking of moons, my final photo is a close-up shot of the large gas giant planet, Jupiter, with its four Galilean moons (Io, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede) visible -- and in almost a straight line.

Well I hope that y'all enjoyed my photos and welcome summer 2022!