Thursday, September 26, 2024

Night Sky Photography -- 09-24-2024 -- Last Quarter Moon & Constellations After Midnight

About one hour after midnight on Tuesday, September 24th, I captured several photos of the rising Last Quarter (Third Quarter) Moon and the planet Jupiter sitting between the Constellations Taurus The Bull and Auriga The Charioteer just over the tops of the trees. 

The first photo is a wide shot of the major stars and star clusters near Luna and Jupiter as seen from here on Earth in the sky dome. The second photo is a closer shot where I've outlined the constellations themselves. The final shot is a close-up of the Last Quarter Moon for September -- the first major Moon Phase for the autumn season here in South Carolina and the Northern Hemisphere.

The planet Jupiter can be seen inside the Constellation Taurus in the second photo, where I outlined the position on the major stars of both constellations on either side of the bright Last Quarter Moon.

The bright star, Elnath, can be seen just next to Luna. At approximately 134 light-years (or 41 parsecs) distance from our Sun, Elnath is the second-brightest star in the Constellation Taurus, and connects the bull with the Constellation Auriga.

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