Night Sky Photography -- 10-16-2025 -- Jupiter With The Twins

Late this evening I captured this great shot of the giant planet Jupiter rising in the eastern sky with the largest stars of the Constellation Gemini stars Castor and Pollux, with all the major stars of the nearby Constellations Orion The Hunter and Taurus The Bull nearby. The planet Jupiter, the fifth planet of our Solar System, will remain close to the bright star Pollux for the remaining months of 2025 so you won't have trouble locating it.

A very important fact for all you amateur stargazers. In the early morning hours of Tuesday, October 21st, the Orionids Meteor Shower will be at its peak and anywhere between 10 to 30 meteors can be spotted an hour. You can best spot them in the space between the Constellation Orion near Betelgeuse and the Constellation Gemini.

Night Sky Photography -- 02-10-2025 -- Mars & Jupiter Seen Through The Clouds

Good evening, fellow stargazers!

Well my friends, due to cloudy and rainy conditions forecasted for this week I am uncertain if I will be able to capture any photos of the second Full Moon of the year (the Full Snow Moon) -- which falls on Wednesday, February 12th -- which will be lined up with the Constellation Leo The Lion and its brightest star Regulus closest to Luna.

Still, I went outside early last evening and could barely see the Waxing Gibbous Moon's silhouette and Luna's glorious shine through the breaks in the clouds. The early buds on the tree limbs overhead show that (six more weeks of winter, or not) spring was ready to arrive here in the South Carolina Piedmont. I did however notice that those clouds were moving fast and between them I got glimpses of the planets Mars and Jupiter near the Moon. 

I quickly retrieved my camera and set up my tripod and captured two absolutely gorgeous shots of both "wandering stars" through the clouds.

The first photo shows the two planets glowing brightly with Luna's glow through the tree and clouds nearby -- Mars its small dull orange-red and Jupiter a bright white. In the second photo I captured some of the brightest nearby stars through the cloud cover overhead: the twins Castor and Pollux near Mars, large red Aldebaran near Jupiter, along with Capella, Elnath, and Procyon nearby.

I hope y'all enjoyed my photographic offerings for the evening. I hope to have some more night sky photos soon. I will still hope for clear skies to capture the moment, but if I'm unable be sure to check the skies where y'all live and look for Regulus next to the Full Snow Moon on Wednesday.

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.

Night Sky Photography -- 08-01-2024 -- Planets & Morning Constellations Rising

Good morning, y'all!

Well folks, very early this morning -- at about 90 minutes before sunrise -- I went out into my backyard to capture a pair of really outstanding shots of the planets Jupiter, Mars, & Uranus as they appeared in the sky just above the trees.

In the first photo, I labeled the planets, as well as the brightest stars of the Constellations Taurus The Bull and Auriga The Charioteer, with the Waning Crescent Moon lower on the horizon. In the second photo, I outlined both constellations and all of the stars that made up both. They came out really clear in the shots. In addition to the stars of the Hyades Star Cluster, which makes up the head of Taurus The Bull, I captured the stars of the Pleiades Star Cluster just above it and marked the position of the planet Uranus.

Jupiter and Mars are both easy to spot as the two planets still remain close to the bright red giant star, Aldebaran and appear as a triangle of "stars" inside the Constellation Taurus. Both planets are moving ever closer to a conjunction on the mornings of Wednesday, August 14th and Thursday, August 15th later this month.

Uranus is slightly harder to spot unless you know precisely where to look. At the present time the position of the distant 7th planet of our Solar System can be found about two degrees, or so, to the left of the Pleiades Star Cluster. I marked the location in both photos since. If you have a good telescope, or a really good pair of binoculars, y'all should have no trouble spotting the faint planet about an hour before sunrise.

The brightest star of the Constellation Auriga is Capella, the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega.

Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, Capella is actually a quadruple star system -- two binary pairs, made up of two bright-yellow giant stars, (Capella Aa and Capella Ab) both of which are around 2.5 times larger than our own Sun, and two smaller and relatively cool red dwarf stars (Capella H and Capella L) which are around 10,000 astronomical units (AU) from the other pair. The system is relatively close to our Solar System, estimated to be about 42.9 light-years (or 13.2 parsecs) from the Sun.

Both the Constellations Auriga and Taurus are connected by the bright star, Elnath, which also happens to be the second-brightest star in both constellations. Elnath is a giant star about 134 light-years (or 41 parsecs) from the Sun. 

Well I hope y'all enjoyed my photos. I hope to have more soon, good weather permitting. Have a wonderful Dixie day, and be sure to keep looking at the skies, y'all.

Night Sky Photography -- 01-31-2024 -- The Galactic Anticenter & Winter Stars

Good evening, fellow stargazers! 

As we get ready to exit the winter month of January here in the Northern Hemisphere and start into February, overhead the Winter Circle star constellations rise high into the sky dome in late evenings and travel westward to set in the late night-early morning hours.

Looking up at the brightest of these stars inside the Winter Circle (Hexagon) you are actually looking towards the opposite end of our own Milky Way Galaxy.

In the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, you can look towards the spot in our evening sky where our own galaxy's center is located, as seen in my previous Night Sky Photography post HERE.

The opposite can be seen in the winter months where the season's most prominent constellations show us the location of the Galactic anticenter -- the area of space that's directly opposite to the Galactic Center looking towards the far end of the galaxy as viewed from our Earth.

The actual location of the Galactic anticenter is easy to find since its very close to the bright star, Elnath (or Beta Tauri) located at the point that connects the Constellations Taurus The Bull and Auriga The Charioteer. Elnath is the second-brightest star of Taurus and is located approximately 134 light-years distance from our Sun.

My photographs for the evening show the location of the Galactic anticenter near Elnath, as well as the best way to spot it using the winter constellations as a guide. Locate Elnath and you find the Galactic anticenter in the night sky.

The first photo shows the bright stars overhead just two hours before midnight on the last day of the month of January. In my second photo (taken just a moment later), I outlined the location of the constellations themselves, with the Galactic anticenter located right at the junction where Taurus meets Auriga next to Elnath. 

Well, I hope that y'all enjoyed my photos for the evening. Let me know what y'all think in the comments section and as always have a wonderful evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all.

Night Sky Photography -- 10-03-2023 -- The Moon & The Pleiades

Late last night I captured some really outstanding shots of the Waning Gibbous Moon in conjunction with the Pleiades "Seven Sisters" Star Cluster in the eastern sky. The star cluster can be seen just above and to the left of our lovely Luna just outside the glare of the moonlight.

The wider shots also include the Hyades Star Cluster located in the Constellation Taurus The Bull and the constellation's two brightest stars, Aldebaran -- the Eye of the Bull -- and Elnath.

Jupiter can be seen as the brightest object in the eastern night sky at the moment. 

Night Sky Photography -- 08-23-2022 -- Mars & Aldebaran: Twin Red "Stars" In The Early Morning

Good evening, fellow Stargazers!

Once again I was awake very early in the morning to capture another really good photo of two red "stars" rising in the eastern sky hours before sunrise.

The stars in question are the red giant star, Aldebaran -- the "eye" of Constellation Taurus The Bull and the planet Mars, one of the traditional "wandering stars" which can be seen together for the next month, or so, rising in the eastern sky. Their slightly red color helps both to stand out well in the evening sky.

In spite of the mostly cloudy conditions, I was able to successfully capture both red "stars" together -- well together being a subjective term since Aldebaran is about 65.23 light-years (or 20 parsecs) from the Sun.

Though its so far away, the red giant star Aldebaran is actually about 400 times brighter than our own Sun, and 44 times its size. Aldebaran is also the 14th brightest star in the night sky as seen from the surface of the Earth. 

Aldebaran is the brightest star in the Constellation Taurus the Bull, which I was unable to get a good photo of all the stars due to the cloudy conditions. I was able to capture the bright star Elnath (Beta Tauri), the second-brightest star in Taurus in the left corner of the shot. Elnath is about 134 light-years (or 41.8 parsecs) from the Sun.

Mars is one of the five "wandering stars" (or classical planets -- those visible to the naked eye in the night sky from the surface of the Earth) and at present is moving slowly towards the sunrise and past Aldebaran. Mars will actually be traveling within the Constellation Taurus beginning on September 9th through the first week of October of this year and can be seen between Aldebaran and Elnath to observers here on Earth.

Well, until next time have a wonderful evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear.

Night Sky Photography -- 09-28-2021 -- The Constellations Taurus The Bull & Auriga The Charioteer

Hello fellow night sky watchers!

Well y'all I had to stay up extra late this evening (about two hours after midnight) to capture several really good shots of the brightest stars of the Constellations Auriga The Charioteer and Taurus The Bull rising in the east with the beautiful Last Quarter Moon.

In the first photo, using the moon as a guide, you can see the constellation's brightest stars Capella and Aldebaran, along with the bright star, Elnath, which connects both constellations together in the sky dome.

Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga -- the sixth-brightest star in the night sky -- and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega.

Capella is the Latin word for nanny goat, and this bright star is often called the Goat Star. The mythological charioteer character, Auriga, is often depicted in mythology holding a female goat and her kids, along with the reins of a chariot.

Relatively close to us at about 42.9 light-years from the Sun, Capella appears to the naked eye to be a single star. In fact that bright point of light is made up of four separate stars, two of which (Capella Aa and Capella Ab) are a binary pair of large type-G yellow giant stars estimated to be anywhere from 10 to 12 times the size of the Sun. The other pair, Capella H and Capella L, are smaller red dwarf stars.

Aldebaran, the Eye of the Bull, is the brightest star in the Constellation Taurus The Bull and generally the fourteenth-brightest star in the night sky. The red giant is 65 light-years from the Sun and measures about 44 times the size of the Sun.

The traditional name Aldebaran derives from the Arabic term al Dabaran meaning "the follower" because it seems to follow the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) in the night sky.

Connecting both constellations is the bright star Elnath (or Beta Tauri). The second-brightest star in the Constellation Taurus the Bull, the B7 giant star is approximately 134 light-years away from the Sun. Elnath is estimated to be about 4.5 times the size of our Sun. The name Elnath comes from the Arabic word meaning "the butting" (or the Bull's horns).

In my second photo, I outlined the constellations as they are depicted. You can also see the Pleiades Star Cluster just above Taurus, which appear as a little dipper of five small, bright stars (two of them were not visible in the shot). You can also see the bright star, Rigel, just above the treetops on the bottom right.

Rigel (Beta Orionis) is a blue supergiant star and the second brightest star of Constellation Orion The Hunter, approximately 860 light-years from Earth. Like Capella, Rigel is a star system made up of at least four stars that appear as a single blue-white point of light to the naked eye.

Together, these bright points of light make up part of the Winter Hexagon (or Winter Circle) asterism that also includes the stars Pollux, Procyon, and Sirius. Capella is the northern most of these stars in the Winter Circle -- highlighted in blue here in my third and final photo of the evening.

Well folks, this concludes my presentation for the evening, my first one of the 2021 autumn season. Hopefully I will be able to bring you more soon, clear skies permitting. Until then, have a wonderful evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!

Night Sky Photography -- 07-31-2020 -- Venus Rising in the East

Good morning fellow stargazers!

This morning I woke up about an hour before sunrise and went outside to see beautiful clear skies -- as well as the loud chirping of the legions of Cicadas (Neotibicen linnei, commonly called Linne's cicada) that play their music in the evenings and early mornings in mid-summer down here in Dixie. 

Today is the last day of July, the first full month of summer, with the hottest month of August looming.

I focused on the rising dawn and saw bright, beautiful Venus in the east just over the tree line. I snapped this photo of Venus and managed to capture the faint stars of the Constellation Auriga the Charioteer. 

Y'all notice the star Elnath at the southern tip of Auriga. This star used to belong both to Auriga, where it was known as the heel of the Charioteer, and to the Constellation Taurus the Bull -- which unfortunately didn't come out well in the dawn's light, although its brightest star, Aldebaran, the fourteenth-brightest star in the night sky, is clearly visible in the upper right of the shot. 

Auriga's brightest star, Capella, marks the Charioteer’s left shoulder. Capella is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky and although it appears to the naked eye as a single star, Capella is actually a quadruple star system group organized in two binary pairs made up of the stars: Capella Aa, Capella Ab, Capella H, and Capella L. 

Well what better way to close out July and my last blog post of the month. I hope y'all enjoyed my photography, and I hope to have more soon, God and clear skies willing. 

Until then fellow stargazers have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all keep your eyes to the night skies.