Good evening fellow stargazers!
For my first night sky photographic offerings of the 2023 year, I was able to capture some really great shots of our lovely moon along with all the major stars of the Pleiades Star Cluster "Seven Sisters" in the late night sky through the bare tree branches of my backyard through the partly cloudy sky overhead.
The first photo is truly a gorgeous shot. You can see the Pleiades to the left of Luna in the gap in the clouds just past the larger tree branch separating the two. The next two photos were taken about ten minutes later when the skies were clearer capturing the moon and the star cluster together and one showing the stars of the Seven Sisters shining brightly.
My final photo of the evening I took while there was still partial cloud cover but clearly shows both Luna and the Pleiades, along with the planet Mars and the bright red-giant star, Aldebaran.
Luna is currently passing through what is referred to as the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic
asterism -- the space between the V-shaped Hyades Star Cluster and the
Seven Sisters. Both star clusters are among the nearest ones to our Sun,
with the nearest stars of the Hyades located
about 153 light-years (or 47 parsecs) away and the Pleiades at a
distance of about 444 light years (or 136 parsecs) away from the Sun.
Mars is still pretty bright in the night sky, though it will continue to dim in brightness over the next couple of months as it moves away from us in its orbit around the Sun following last month's opposition. Mars will remain near the Eye of Taurus for at least the rest of the winter months as the Red Planet begins the end of its retrograde motion in the night sky and starts turning back eastward on the late evening of Thursday, January 12th and reentering the Constellation Taurus The Bull.
The moon is currently in its Waxing Gibbous phase headed towards the first Full Moon of 2023 on the evening of Friday, January 6th. On an interesting note, the January 2023 full moon (also known in North America as the Full Wolf Moon) is the first official full moon of winter, and will be present inside the Winter Circle asterism for the occasion right next to the twin stars: Castor and Pollux in the Constellation Gemini The Twins.
Well, I hope yall enjoyed my first night sky photos of the year 2023, more will be coming soon. Until next time have a good evening and y'all keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear?
Mars is still pretty bright in the night sky, though it will continue to dim in brightness over the next couple of months as it moves away from us in its orbit around the Sun following last month's opposition. Mars will remain near the Eye of Taurus for at least the rest of the winter months as the Red Planet begins the end of its retrograde motion in the night sky and starts turning back eastward on the late evening of Thursday, January 12th and reentering the Constellation Taurus The Bull.
The moon is currently in its Waxing Gibbous phase headed towards the first Full Moon of 2023 on the evening of Friday, January 6th. On an interesting note, the January 2023 full moon (also known in North America as the Full Wolf Moon) is the first official full moon of winter, and will be present inside the Winter Circle asterism for the occasion right next to the twin stars: Castor and Pollux in the Constellation Gemini The Twins.
Well, I hope yall enjoyed my first night sky photos of the year 2023, more will be coming soon. Until next time have a good evening and y'all keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear?
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