Night Sky Photography -- 04-13-2025 -- The Full Pink Moon & Spica

An hour after midnight on Sunday, April 13th (Palm Sunday) I captured these photos of the April Full Moon with the bright star Spica in the night sky. You can see Luna bathed in the clouds casting a beautiful full moon glow with Spica just above her. The final photo is, of course, the clear shot of Luna and the features of the Full Moon.

This is the first official full moon of spring here in the Northern Hemisphere and is referred to as the Full Pink Moon here in North America.

Luna actually reached its apogee -- its farthest distance for the year from the Earth -- today. At a distance of approximately 252,460 miles (or 406,355 kilometers) away from the Earth, this year's Full Pink Moon is the farthest full moon -- or micromoon -- of 2025.

The bright star, Spica, is the 15th brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest star of the Constellation Virgo the Virgin. Spica is approximately 261 light-years (or 80 parsecs) from the Sun.

Night Sky Photography -- 03-20-2023 -- The March Equinox & Locating The Spring Triangle & Great Diamond Constellations

Happy Spring Equinox, Y'all!

Today is the first official day of spring equinox 2023 here in the Northern Hemisphere. Goodbye to those long, cold winter nights and hello to longer daytime hours and warmer weather.

The equinox refers to the moment when Earth's rotation axis is directly perpendicular to the Sun, or from our perspective here on Earth when the Sun travels just over the Earth's equator. This occurs twice a year in March and September when the axis of the Earth tilts and turns one hemisphere of the Earth towards the sun in our orbit.

In the Northern Hemisphere this is referred to as the March Vernal Equinox (or spring equinox). In the Southern Hemisphere below the equator this is actually the first day of autumn.

For us amateur stargazers, it also means that the constellations of the Winter Circle (Winter Hexagon) will be setting in the west earlier after dark and new constellations will begin to appear in our evening sky dome.

The first day of spring and the next few months will be the perfect opportunity to see the amazing stars of the Spring Triangle asterism and its spring time constellations in the evening sky.

The Spring Triangle connects three major stars: Arcturus, Spica, and Regulus -- as well as their constellations: Bootes The Heardsman, Virgo The Virgin, and Leo The Lion  -- into a sort of isosceles triangle. A smaller and more equilateral Spring Triangle can also be formed using the star Denebola which is also a part of the Constellation Leo.

The following photos were taken in the late evening after midnight on Monday, March 20th and in the late evening before midnight of the same day of the Spring Triangle stars and their respective constellations.

The first star in the Spring Triangle is the large, orange-colored red giant star, Arcturus (or Alpha Bootes), the third-brightest star in the night sky visible in the Northern Hemisphere, and the brightest star in the Constellation Bootes The Heardsman. Arcturus is relatively the closest to us at about 36.7 light-years (or 11.2 parsecs) from the Sun.

The next is the binary star Spica (or Alpha Virginis) the brightest star in the Constellation Virgo The Virgin (or Virgo The Maiden). The brightest of these binaries is a blue giant star located about 261 light-years (or 80 parsecs) from the Sun. Spica is the 16th brightest star in the night sky.

The third star in the Spring Triangle is Regulus (or Alpha Leonis) the brightest star in the Constellation Leo The Lion, which is in reality a quadruple star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. This system lies approximately 79 light-years (or 24.2 parsecs) from the Sun. Regulus is also known as the "Heart of the Lion" and is the 21st brightest star in the night sky.

The fourth star which comprises the smaller triangle is Denebola (or Beta Leonis), a A-type main sequence dwarf star and the second brightest star in Leo. The star is located at a distance of 36 light-years (or 11 parsecs) from the Sun -- also pretty close to us astronomically speaking.

Locating each of the Spring Triangle stars and their respective constellations is actually not all that hard even for those starting out learning about astronomy. In fact, its quite easy if you can locate the Big Dipper asterism in the evening sky.

The Big Dipper (or Plough) is an asterism of seven bright stars in the larger Constellation Ursa Major The Great Bear and its located near the Spring Triangle stars.

Using the Big Dipper as a guide to the Spring Triangle, you just need to remember three classical mnemonic phrases to navigate your way to their location:

(1) Using the bottom of the Big Dipper below the handle, draw a straight line in the sky using the two stars as a guide to "Make A Reach To Regulus."

(2) Use the end of the handle of the Big Dipper and draw another straight line to "Make An Arc To Arcturus." 
 
(3) Finally, make another straight line using Arcturus to "Drive A Spike To Spica." 

The smaller Spring Triangle stars are also included by a fourth star Cor Caroli in the small Constellation Canes Venatici to form yet another asterism known as the Great Diamond of Virgo -- Or Great Diamond. The Great Diamond connects four constellations and is slightly large than the nearby Big Dipper itself.

That is my presentation and photographic offerings for the beginning of the 2023 spring season. More will be coming soon. Until then, have a wonderful Dixie Day and keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-17-2020 -- Venus & The Great Diamond With Constellations

Good morning fellow Stargazers!

Once again your favorite blogger got up early this morning -- about an hour before sunrise -- to capture Venus and the early morning stars in the eastern sky. Among the stars included the major stars and the constellations that make up the Great Diamond asterism. 

In the first photo, you can see the four major stars that make up the Great Diamond: Denebola, Cor Caroli, Arcturus, and Spica -- which can be seen just through the tree next to bright Venus.

In the second photo I highlighted the major constellations located in the Great Diamond: Leo The Lion, Bootes The Herdsman, and Virgo The Maiden. I was able to just barely capture all the major stars of these constellations in the pre-dawn sky. 

 

The three southernmost stars (Denebola, Arcturus, and Spica) are also a part of their own asterism, the Spring Triangle. Interesting fact about Spring Triangle is that there are in fact two of them. Denebola makes up the more nearly equilateral version of the triangle while the star Regulus -- also located in the Constellation Leo The Lion -- makes a larger and more pie-piece-shaped triangle.

In my final photo I highlighted both versions of the Spring Triangle asterism, as well as the Arc To Arcturus which can be found by following the handle of the Big Dipper in the Constellation Ursa Major. Sky watchers use the phrase: follow the arc to Arcturus, and drive a spike (or speed on) to Spica, in order to locate the two stars in the sky dome. 

 

Astronomy is awesome!

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my early morning photography as much as I enjoy bringing it to y'all. Have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the skies!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-16-2020 -- Venus & Mercury With Arcturus & Spica

Good evening fellow Stargazers!

This morning, your favorite blogger woke up about 45 minutes before sunrise just in time to capture this outstanding photo of the bright planet, Venus, with little Mercury barely visible below it in the east. The two inferior planets were joined in the sky dome by the bright stars Arcturus and Spica.

Although the star Spica is brightest star in the Constellation Virgo the Maiden, serves as a prime example of a 1st magnitude star, it was hard to see this star in the pre-dawn sky. I was barely able to spot it as I took the photo.

Mercury I didn't even see very well until I downloaded the photo and saw it positioned just next to the tree as a very faint spot of light.

Arcturus is an orange-colored star in the far left and the brightest star in the Constellation Bootes the Herdsman. It is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. At just under 37 light-years away, Arcturus is actually about 25 times larger than the diameter of our sun. The reddish-orange color of Arcturus signifies its temperature, which is roughly about 7,300 degrees Fahrenheit -- about several thousand degrees cooler than the surface of the sun.  

Both Spica and Arcturus make up part of the three-star Spring Triangle asterism, which also includes the bright star Regulus in the Constellation Leo The Lion. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture Regulus in the shot through the tree branches, although if y'all get up early enough in the morning, spotting Regulus farther overhead between the two stars won't be hard.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my post. Have a wonderful Dixie day, and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies.

Night Sky Photography -- 09-02-2018 -- Jupiter & Moons, Mars & Venus

Good evening to all my fellow stargazers!

This evening about one hour after sunset at dusk two beautiful wanderers and two bright stars appeared out of the western sky. Venus and Spica, the brightest star in the Constellation Virgo closer to the western horizon, with Jupiter and Zubenelgenubi, the main star of the constellation Libra, following them higher in the western sky.  

Jupiter and Venus appeared first. I took a good closeup of Jupiter and once again captured three of the four Jovian Moons: Io, Ganymede and Europa. Soon the two bright stars appeared and I captured these images of Jupiter and Venus with their new evening companions.

One final shot I took was a beautiful shot of Mars rising in the eastern sky. Because its orbit is still closer to Earth for the next couple of months, Mars still appears larger in the sky and continues to shine brightly as the summer winds down towards autumn.

I hope y'all enjoyed these photos. Have a wonderful evening and keep looking to the night skies, y'all! 

Night Sky Photography -- 07-29-2017 -- Luna, Jupiter & Spica

On Saturday, June 29th, I took these two shots of the planet Jupiter with the moon and the bright star Spica about fifty minutes after sunset.  

The day before Jupiter had been closer to Luna and Spica in the sky, but cloud cover prevented me to get a good photo. 

In a few days on Wednesday, August 2nd, Luna will be near Saturn in the night sky. I will attempt to get a photo of the meeting weather permitting. Until then keep watching the skies. 

Night Sky Photography - 05-07-2017 - Luna, Jupiter & Spica In The Evening Sky....Again!

Tonight the waxing gibbous moon (Luna) joins up closely with the giant planet Jupiter, which is currently the brightest starlike object in the evening sky next to the moon. The star below Luna and Jupiter is Spica, brightest light in the constellation Virgo the Maiden.

I mentioned in last month's post HERE that Jupiter and the star Virgo would continue to stay in proximity to each other in the evening sky for much of the year.

I took this image about 40 minutes after sunset. 

I hope y'all enjoyed this planetary shot. Keep your eyes to the night sky.

Night Sky Photography - 04-11-2017 - Full Moon, Jupiter & Spica In Eastern Sky

As I mentioned in my last blog post, the first full moon of spring 2017 celebrated the change of seasons by pairing up with our solar system's largest neighbor, Jupiter, after it rose in the eastern sky. 

Tonight I was able to get a really good shot of the full moon with Jupiter moving farther away. Luna was in turn joined by Spica, the brightest star of the constellation Virgo, and the 16th brightest star in the night sky. 

Jupiter will remain in the vicinity of Spica for much of 2017. 

Once again I hope you enjoyed my planetary photography and, as always, keep looking to the skies.

Night Sky Photography - 01-19-2017 - Luna, Jupiter & Spica in Southern Sky

Well fellow stargazers, early in the morning on January 19th, I got a really good shot of Jupiter near the Last Quarter Moon about 45 minutes before sunrise in the southern sky. Also present below them is Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo; which showed up quite nicely. 

 

Later the same morning about 7:45 AM EST, I got another wider shot of Luna and Jupiter in the clear blue morning sky. Spica and the other stars were banished by the risen sun, but the King Planet still shown bright enough to photograph. 

 

 

As always I hope y'all enjoy them.