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 -- 01-30-2025 -- Mars & Jupiter With The Winter Circle Constellations

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!

Night Sky Photography -- 01-13-2024 -- The Full Wolf Moon Occults Bright Mars

Greetings and Salutations, fellow stargazers!

Tonight, your favorite blogger has a very special night sky offering for y'all to enjoy -- photos I took over a four-hour period showing the first full moon of the year occulting -- or passing in front of -- the bright planet Mars just days before its two-year close opposition to Earth!

The January full moon is traditionally known here in North America as the Full Wolf Moon. Luna officially achieved her full moon status this afternoon at about 5:30 p.m. EST here on the east coast of the United States.

Mars, like Luna, is also in opposition between the Earth and the Sun -- the Red Planet will officially reach opposition on the evening of Wednesday, January 15th when it will be the largest and brightest it will appear in the night sky for the next two years.

Mars will continue to remain in the vicinity of the Constellation Gemini The Twins until mid-April of this year and will continue to remain a bright orange-yellow "wandering star" for several months before its wider orbit will take our closest planetary neighbor further away from our Earth and it begins to dim again till the next opposition in February of 2027.

The brilliance of Luna during her full moon phase compared to Mars at its brightest makes witnessing this occultation easy enough in the hours before and after the event. Since the Full Wolf Moon will outshine our little red neighbor by around 40 thousand times, you would need a good telescope, or binocular lenses to see it in the moon's brilliant glare in the minutes before and after occultation.

I set up my camera and tripod in my backyard on this cold January evening and trained my sights on the heavenly spectacle. God granted beautifully clear skies (aside from one instance of clouds that wasn't really much of an obstacle) and all I had to do was wait.

The first shots were taken at 7:00 p.m. EST -- about 2 hours before the occultation -- with a wide shot showing how the Full Wolf Moon and Mars appeared in the eastern sky with the twin stars Castor and Pollux nearby. Then I took a close-up shot along with a filtered show of the first full moon of the year 2025.

An hour later -- about 70 minutes before the occultation -- I took photos showing the progress of the Full Wolf Moon as it slowly moved towards the east and Mars in its orbit.

In my part of South Carolina and the United States, the occultation of Mars by the Full Wolf Moon began at approximately 9:10 p.m. EST and lasted until 10:20 p.m. EST seventy minutes later. These are the photos I took of Mars disappearing and then reappearing behind Luna in the night sky.

Well my friends, once again I hope y'all enjoyed my photographs of this rare night sky event as much as I enjoyed taking them and posting them here for everyone.

I look forward to bringing y'all more night sky photography in the future, but until then keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all.

Night Sky Photography -- 11-21-2024 -- The Moon & Beehive Star Cluster

Earlier this evening at midnight, I set up my camera and tripod in the backyard to capture some really good shots of the Waning Gibbous Moon, Mars, and the faint Beehive Star Cluster in the eastern sky.

In the wider shots y'all can see Luna and Mars along with some of the brighter stars like the Gemini Twins: Castor and Pollux, as well as Procyon. In the more close-up shots the distant Beehive Star Cluster becomes more visible just outside Luna's glare, along with two of the brighter stars of the Constellation Cancer The Crab: Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis. Both of these stars mark the location of the Beehive in the night sky.

The Beehive Star Cluster (also known as the M44 Cluster) is an open cluster in the barely visible Constellation Cancer, and one of the nearest star clusters to our Solar System at a distance of something around 520 to 610 light-years (or between 160 to 187 parsecs) from the Sun.

Y'all should keep an eye on the 4th planet from the Sun over the next couple months. Mars will remain in the vicinity of the Constellation Cancer for the rest of the year as the Red Planet continues to get larger and brighter towards its two year opposition to the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. It takes Mars about 687 days to orbit the Sun, compared to the 365 days our own Earth takes in its smaller orbit.

By the end of the month, Mars will actually move lower eastward towards the Beehive Cluster and remain there for a week, or so; but then, by mid-December, will begin to move higher back westward in the night sky back towards Pollux and the Constellation Gemini by the end of the year. This retrograde motion of Mars will occur between December 6, 2024 until February 23, 2025 as we Earthlings pass our small planetary neighbor in orbit.

Night Sky Photography -- 11-19-2024 -- Luna, Jupiter, Mars & Stars

I captured this outstanding photo last night about forty minutes after midnight of our beautiful Waning Gibbous Moon as she appeared just between the planets Jupiter and Mars high in the eastern sky. In addition I also captured many of the nearby brightest stars of the constellations Gemini, Canis Minor, Taurus and Orion.

Luna will pass by the bright star, Pollux, late on Tuesday, November 19th and Mars on the the night of Wednesday, November 20th. On both nights, the moon will appear only a degree, or so, apart from both heavenly bodies.

Jupiter, with its much slower orbit, will remain close to the Constellation Taurus for awhile; but Mars will soon begin to appear brighter as it moves ever closer to its opposition to the Earth in its orbit.

Night Sky Photography -- 10-13-2024 -- Jupiter & Mars With Early Morning Winter Stars

Salutations once again, fellow stargazers!

Now that autumn here in North America is here, the morning skies overhead an hour before sunrise will begin to feature the stars and constellations of the Winter Circle, most of which will begin rising after about an hour before midnight the evening before.

Both the planets Mars and Jupiter can now be seen inside the Winter Circle with the Red Planet near the Constellation Gemini the Twins and Jupiter inside the Constellation Taurus the Bull.

Early this morning, I stepped outside and set up my tripod in the front yard, focusing my camera up at the two planets, as well as the brightest points of light near them, and took several very clear photographs. Because of the wonderfully clear morning sky overhead, I managed to capture not only our nearest planetary neighbors, but all the beautiful stars of four of the Winter Circle constellations -- as well as Sirius, the brightest star that can be seen from Earth.

In the first photo, I labeled both Mars and Jupiter, as well as all the major stars of the constellations around them and in the second I outlined the constellations themselves, including the location of the Winter Triangle asterism.

Looking up at those beautiful stars and planets in a clear autumn sky, its almost hard to imagine just how far away most of them are.

The closest of them, Mars, is actually over a hundred million miles from Earth at present and getting slightly closer as the planet moves in its orbit towards its opposition to Earth in January of 2025, and will appear to be getting even bigger in the early morning sky over the next couple of months. Even at its closest approach, Mars will only be about 60 million miles from Earth since this opposition puts the small planet will be near its aphelion, or the point farther away from the Sun in its orbit.

In my final photo of the post, I labeled not only the planets and the major stars and the location of the Orion Nebula, but I also added the exact distance from Earth to put into perspective just how massive our nearest galactic neighbors are. Also keep in mind most of those points of light that we see comes from light that took decades in most cases to reach our curious eyes.

With that in mind, I bid all of y'all a wonderful day. More evening photography will be coming soon, until then keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear.

Night Sky Photography -- 08-14/15-2024 -- Jupiter & Mars Conjunction With Morning Constellations!

The conjunction of Jupiter and Mars as seen from my back yard
just above the treetops about 85 minutes before sunrise.
You can also see the major morning stars of several constellations.

 

Since the start of August 2024, both Jupiter and Mars can be seen shining brightly in the eastern morning sky, moving ever closer to each other in their respective orbits around the Sun. I've been following its progress when clear skies permitted.

On the morning of Wednesday, August 14th, the two planets finally reached conjunction, appearing very close to each other -- less than a full moon’s width apart on the morning sky. Mars passed just over the top of Jupiter and will continue to appear to be close to the gas giant planet for at least one more early morning on Thursday, August 15th before the two planets move farther away from each other.

The following are the photos I took early this morning of the conjunction.

In my cover photo for this post above taken about 85 minutes before sunrise, y'all can see the two planets together in the early morning sky as I saw them from the vantage point in my back yard seeing them rising just above the tops of the tree line; along with some of the brightest stars of the morning constellations.

Both Jupiter and Mars can be see together just inside the Constellation Taurus The Bull near the bright red-giant star, Aldebaran -- the Eye of the Bull.

In my next photo, I labeled the two planets positions, along with all the nearby bright stars and the Hyades and Pleiades Star Clusters, and Orion's Belt asterism. I also included the approximate location of the distant planet Uranus near the Pleiades. This was taken about 75 minutes before sunrise.

In addition to the bright planets in close conjunction, y'all can see nearly all the major stars of the Constellations Orion, Taurus, Auriga, and Gemini. I outlined the constellations in their exact locations in my next photo. Both Jupiter and Mars are virtually in the center of the four visible constellations inside of Taurus.

My final photo for the morning of the 14th is a really good close-up of the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars, along with two of Jupiter's largest moons: Europa and Callisto, both visible in the shot. Europa is the smallest of the four Galilean Moons, and Callisto is the second largest of Jupiter's moon -- as well as the third-largest moon in our Solar System after Ganymede and Titan (Saturn's largest moon).

The next morning on Thursday, August 15th, I took two more photos of the conjunction and the morning stars, this time capturing both of the Gemini Twin stars just above the trees. Y'all can see now that Mars has begun moving past Jupiter and closer towards the east and sunrise. The close up shot of the plants now shows all four of the Galilean Moons now visible -- Io is just barely visible coming from just behind the gas giant planet.

While Mars appears close to the giant planet from our vantage point here on Earth, in reality the two planets are separated by a mean distance of around 342 million miles (or, about 550 million kilometers, or around 3.7 AUs give or take). Still, it makes a very impressive sight in the morning sky.

Well, once again I hope y'all enjoyed my photos of the conjunction. To all my fellow amateur stargazers out there: be sure to keep your eyes to the evening skies, y'all hear.

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 -- 07-15-2024 -- Mars & Uranus Conjunction Before Sunrise!

Greetings fellow stargazers!

On the morning of Monday, July 15, 2024, your favorite blogger had to wake up early -- about 90 minutes before sunrise to be exact -- to drive out into the country a little and find a nice spot to capture the conjunction of the planets Mars and Uranus. I was also able to capture some wonderful shots of the planet Jupiter and the bright red giant star, Aldebaran, in the Constellation Taurus the Bull.

After setting up my tripod, I captured this first photo over the tree line facing south-southeast. I decided not to label this one so you can get an idea of how I saw it for myself.

You can see what appears to be two red points and a large bright point set in a oblong triangle in the nautical twilight as they appeared to the naked eye. The large bright spot is Jupiter, while the smaller red spots are Aldebaran positioned to the right of Jupiter and the planet Mars in the upper corner.

Using the lens as a filter to capture more points of light not quite visible to the naked eye, I captured nearly all the stars of the Hyades Star Cluster -- which make up the "face" of the Constellation Taurus the Bull -- and the nearby Pleiades Star Cluster between Mars and the current position of Uranus in the night sky as seen from the Earth's surface. The wider shot also captured the nearby stars Elnath and Capella closer to the east and coming sunrise. The close up shot shows both the Hyades and Pleiades clusters more clearly.

Mars is easy to spot due to its bright red-orange hue, though distant Uranus is impossible to see with the naked eye and requires a really good lens to spot. Thankfully I have a good 35X Sony Optical Zoom lens on my camera and, at maximum magnification, was successfully able to capture a really good close-up of the two planets together at just half-a-degree apart.

Although they appear to be "meeting" in the early morning sky from out vantage point here on the surface of the Earth; the two worlds are actually quite a distance apart.

The large ice giant planet Uranus, the 7th planetary body in our Solar System, is roughly about 1.86 billion miles (just over 3 billion kilometers, or 20.16 AUs) from our Earth at the moment, while Mars, the 4th planet and our nearest planetary neighbor, is about 155 million miles (around 250 million kilometers, or 1.67 AUs) from Earth.

Finally, I took a couple of good shots of Jupiter, now currently a part of the Constellation Taurus for at least the next month in the early mornings. The first show a close-up of Jupiter with bright red Aldebaran, the "Eye of the Bull" close by. The final show captures all the stars of the Hyades Cluster, which I highlight outlining the head of the Constellation Taurus.

The large gas giant planet, Jupiter, the 5th planet in the solar system, is currently about 532 million miles (857 million kilometers, or 5.7 AUs) from the Earth. Aldebaran is much father away at a distance of approximately 65 light-years from our Sun and is the 14th brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth.

Later this month, on Tuesday, July 30th, the crescent moon will cross between Mars and Jupiter in the early morning sky. Over the next month both planets will continue to move closer to each other towards their own conjunction in the morning sky on Monday, August 12, 2024....which I hope to be able to photograph, God and good clear skies willing.

Well folks, I hope that y'all enjoyed my photos and to all my fellow amateur sky watchers be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear.

Night Sky Photography -- 04-08-2024 -- The Visible Planets With Partial Solar Eclipse

It was a big day here in North America this week with the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse arriving this afternoon, appearing overhead in a line across the continent from Mexico to Canada.

Map showing the line of totality during the April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse.
The Partial Solar Eclipse was visible throughout North America from Canada to Panama.

During a Solar Eclipse, the Moon crosses the path of the Sun casting its shadow on the surface of
the Earth.

During a Total Solar Eclipse, the deepest part of the Moon's shadow (the umbra) covers the narrow area of totality, while the lighter part of the Moon's shadow (the penumbra) covers the wider area where only a Partial Solar Eclipse can be seen.

Here in upstate South Carolina, those of us with the proper eye protection were only able to see about 75% of the totality, with the Moon's penumbra shadow casting down making the planets in our Solar System and some of the brightest stars visible.

On Monday, April 8th, I was able to capture one really beautiful image of all the visible planets of our Solar System between the Partial Solar Eclipse at its peak. It was a unique opportunity to see all of these planets in the daytime.

At present Venus is far too close to the Sun to be visible for the next few months, and Saturn and Mars are expected to pass each other on the mornings of Tuesday the 9th and Wednesday the 10th, but they are so low on the horizon before sunrise that its hard to catch them unless you live in an elevated place before the Sun blocks them out. Mercury can be seen low on the horizon just after sunset, but again you see a high place with no obstructions to really see it.

Night Sky Photography -- 02-22-2024 -- Venus & Mars Before Sunrise

Greetings fellow stargazers! 

I had to wake up a bit early -- about an hour, or so, before sunrise -- to capture these two really outstanding shots of our Earth's nearest planetary neighbors: Venus and Mars together just above the trees in the eastern sky.

Mars will continue to rise higher into the morning sky, but will still appear faint and only really be visible before sunrise for most of 2024. Venus will begin to move lower towards the sunrise in its orbit.

Night Sky Photography -- 02-07-2024 -- Mars Returns To The Early Morning Sky

Greetings & Salutations, fellow stargazers!

This morning I got up about an hour before sunrise and took a small drive to the tallest local point near my home which has a largely open and unobstructed view of the eastern horizon above the treeline, which happened to be in the center of my hometown of Chester, South Carolina.

I set up my tripod and was able to capture a couple of really good photos of the Moon and our own planet's two closest neighbors: Venus and Mars. The first shot I took at the top of the hill overlooking downtown Chester, and the second near the bottom using the power line pole and wires for the foreground. The three heavenly bodies appear in a roughly uneven triangle in the sky.

The planet Venus is, of course, the third-brightest object in the sky seen here from the surface of our Earth after the Sun and Luna (our Moon) and is usually most visible after sunset and before sunrise making it one of the first evening "stars" in the night sky, as well as the last of the morning "stars" -- depending on where Venus lies in relation to its orbit around the Sun compared to Earth.

At present, Venus is visible just two hours before sunrise here in the Northern Hemisphere. Its orbit is taking the planet lower in the sky dome towards the eastern horizon and the rising Sun in the mornings.

In contrast, Mars has been, until recently, on the other side of the Sun in relation to Earth, and thus invisible until about the beginning of this month in the glare of the sunrise. However, The Red Planet is slowly rising away from the Sun in the early morning hours.

As you can see in the photos I took, bright Venus is easily visible with the light of the Sun reflecting off the hot, hellish clouds that cover the planet. Cold and distant Mars, by contrast, is very dim since its farther away in its orbit from our vantage point here on Earth, just barely visible in the light of the coming sunrise less than 45 minutes later. 

As Venus sets and Mars rises, our two closest planetary neighbors will appear to move closer and meet in the early morning sky next week with their closest approach (or, conjunction) happening in two weeks on the morning of Wednesday, February 21st of this year.