Good evening fellow stargazers!
As I close out the month of January 2025, I want to begin my wishing my readers a Happy Lunar New Year -- or the Year of the Wood Snake to this blog's fans across the Pacific.
Lunar New Year begin officially in 2025 on the evening of Wednesday, January 29th and into the morning hours of Thursday, January 30th here in North America with a moonless night time, or New Moon Phase.
It is on this moonless night that I was able to capture a wonderful photo of the planets Mars and Jupiter overhead at midnight. Both planets are quite bright compared to the larger but more distant giant stars nearest to them. Beautiful red Mars is of course still quite close to Earth in its orbit; while Jupiter, the largest planet on our Solar System, is easily visible overhead close to the reddish star, Aldebaran, in the Constellation Taurus the Bull.
Not only was the sky dome overhead clear of Lunar moonlight, but the cloudless sky made it easy for me to capture a really clear image of both planets and all the major stars that form the Winter Circle (or Winter Hexagon) asterism, and the six constellations that make them up.
The first is the original photo showing the position of the planets Mars and Jupiter in the sky overhead. A nearby power line pole was used in the foreground to provide an idea what the sky looked like standing and looking up.
The other two shots are the same photo, but with the first outlining the positions of the constellations: Gemini, Canis Minor, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, and Auriga overhead; and the final shot showing the Winter Circle and Winter Triangle asterisms as they appear. Jupiter is just outside of the Winter Circle in the vicinity of Taurus The Bull, while Mars is inside the Winter Circle in the Constellation Gemini.
The month of February 2025 will also be bringing some more opportunities for astronomical photography, God willing good weather and clear skies, of course. Until then have a wonderful Dixie evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, fellow stargazers!
No comments:
Post a Comment