Thursday, December 4, 2008

Venus Jupiter Moon Conjunction

Sky Watch Friday

Everyone was Watching
(Except where it was cloudy. 'bummer')

It was a great sight on December 1. The Moon, Venus and Jupiter were at conjunction (pretty close together). Venus is the lower planet. I had to shoot quite a few shots to get the Earthshine to show on the dark side of the Moon. Photo shot at dusk using a Nikon D200, 18-200 mm lens, at 200mm, with tripod.

Be sure to click on the photos for full page views.

Conjunction 1
(Notice the jagged edge of the terminator, where
sunlight meets the night side of the Moon. This
is caused by the craters on the Moon)

I am including a great scenic photo of the event by my photo buddy photographer, brother, J.S. Mullens. His photo is using the same camera lens combination zoomed to 35mm focal length to capture the scenic shot. It was shot in Ft. Worth after dark, hence the city light glow. I really like the silhouette and event combination. If you like his photo, leave a comment and I will pass it on. I have been trying to get him to set up a blog to show his photography and great photos of New York and Chicago as well as Ft. Worth.

Conjunction 2 by Jimmy
©2008 J.S. Mullens


Another terrific blog of the event is over at Bob Johnson's
Blackholes and astrostuff
. Click here.



For other SWF posts,
see The SkyWatch site here.


Troy and Martha

.


63 comments:

Katney said...

I went to see Bob's. Way cool! I got a shot as well and am in the process of posting it for my skywatch. Nowhere near as good as yours, but may encourage those with less than professional equipement to try.

Katney said...

Check out the shots at the Astronomy Photo of the Day, too.

I added a link on my blogpost, and lost it on my way here.

Anonymous said...

Nice shot, and I really like your brother's as well.

I saw it on the way home from work and couldn't wait to get home and try a shot, but it clouded up on me before I got home! Oh well, still glad I saw it.

Thanks for your comments on my SCARAB article post. I had a lot of fun writing it and reliving some of the memories.

regards--ted

Kim said...

We missed it. It was snowing :( Although all of the light pollution probably would have blocked it anyways. I'm glad you got some great pictures.

Anonymous said...

Great sky shots.
See my Moon post too.

Dewdrop said...

I am so glad you shared that! I have been showing several people here, but I wasn't able to nicely capture. Wonderful!

irish daisies said...

i feel like singing when they moon hits your eye..great night shots!

EG CameraGirl said...

You got great shots of this conjunction. I guess I'll have to wait till 2052 (or something like that) to try it. (Yeah, right!)

Anonymous said...

Lovely shots of the moon. I liked them very much,

Ray

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

awsome! this is great work I love it Troy and Martha! happy weekend

here is my Sky in holland
www.joannwalraven.blogspot.com

JoAnn greetings

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Troy: Neat shots of the conjunction of the Moon and the planets. I think your shot is super.

Rune Eide said...

I can well imagine that you had to work a bit to get those! HDR in the first one?

Photo Cache said...

Yap everyone was watching except me. I watched this on the local news. You got a nice shot.

SaraG said...

WOW, great great photo's.

SandyCarlson said...

Wonderful views and explanation. God bless.

Arija said...

Lovely captures. We had an even more spectacular combination with the planets above the sickle forming a smily face and idiot me didn't rush for the camera but just stood there gaping a t the sheer beauty of it all.

Bob Johnson said...

Hey Troy thanks for the mention, glad you got some great shots, if you want me to post them on my blog let me know.

imac said...

Great stuff this week for your skywatch, love the shots.

vincibene said...

Yes, it was a great sight here, too. And I was at work and had no camera.
I envy you for your fantastic photo!

Merisi said...

Beautiful images, both! :-)

I captured the threesome too,
several thousands of miles away,
and hours earlier.

the7msn said...

I tried so hard to get a good shot of this event...blcch. Yours and Bob's are spectacular. Great job.

Anne-Berit said...

Wonderful sky watch-post:o)

Raven said...

Beautiful photos. I enjoyed scrolling down the whole page and looking at all the beautiful photos from all around.

Carletta said...

I suspected we would see a lot of interpretations of this shot this week - these are awesome!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it just the coolest! Nice photos & I really like your header photo!!!

Kathie Brown said...

Troy, I like them both and I enjoyed viewing the event live from Sycamore Canyon. As I sit here and type the Cooper's is out on the railing trying for a house sparrow lunch at my feeders again!

Champ said...

Great shots!! 5 stars each!

Tess Kincaid said...

OMG! You two brothers both got super duper shots! Stunning.

Anonymous said...

That's great! I did miss it completely and am properly ashamed.
But thanks to you and your bro I get to see it by proxy!
Thank you for sharing!
Cheers, Klaus

marcia@joyismygoal said...

oh good job

DeniseinVA said...

Awesome night shots, both yours and your brother's.

Pretty Life Online said...

Nature is truly beautiful! Happy weekend! Hope you can have time to visit my corner too...

Anonymous said...

These are wonderful shots. So beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Wow...a treat to see all these photos. It was cloudy here too. @:{

Cathy said...

Nice pics.

Grammy said...

I love all your photos.

We had clouds so we were not lucky to see Jupiter.

Happy sky watch Friday

Unknown said...

Really nice photos: I've been admiring the same night sky here in Naples Florida.

Rottlady of the Ozarks said...

Wonderful capture. Your shots were much better than mine, but it was a whole lot of fun to see!

Jim Klenke said...

You and your brother got some great shots of the moon and planets. I took one and posted it earlier in the week, but yours have great detail.

Unknown said...

These are both wonderful shots of a unique sight

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

These are all really terrific photos!
We were outside enjoying the trio for the past few nights with our little started telescope. So cool!

~Lisa
New Mexico

Genie said...

As fun as it was to see the conjunction, it has been even more fun to see just how many people were out with their cameras to shoot it. I couldn't believe how many people uploaded shots from all over the world onto Flickr and the many many photos sent in by iReporters to CNN. It's fun to me because it means so many of us were out there focused on the same thing and experiencing it together (albeit at different times).

I'm thrilled that you shot it too!

Julie said...

Hello! I have decided to (finally) join in on the skywatch fun! I made my blog post and then randomly chose to look at yours first... we have posted the same objects...just mine is from Australia!(and not as good as yours) Small world! Cheers, Julie

Anonymous said...

Good stuff, guys. It's always a pleasure to visit your site.

Reader Wil said...

I like both photos and I especially like the one with the trees silhouetted against the dark sky. Good work Troy and Martha and J.S Mullens.

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos. Where I live, I saw a smiley face of the planets and moon. Check it out on my blog.

Anonymous said...

Very cool. I missed the event due to extreme cloudiness. It's nice to be able to see it in your photos.

Gretchen said...

Really great shots!

Pat - Arkansas said...

We were fortunate enough to have clear skies here, and I enjoyed the view of the alignment. Your brother's photo most closely approximates what I could see here; tell him I really like it. Thanks for the explanation of the "bumps" in the terminator line. I learn something new every day.

Michael Palmer said...

I saw that this was happening on the news - GREAT CAPTURE -

Daryl said...

The trifecta! No luck, just good shootin'

:-Daryl

Anonymous said...

How 'kewl' that you were able to capture and share this for those of us who missed it ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

Naturegirl said...

You did a great job capturing this sight! I must start using my tripod for night shots because I always get a blur!!Thank you for the tip!

AphotoAday said...

Craters?
I thought they were just holes in the cheese...

Cath said...

Hi you two! Hope you're ok. Sorry I am not around as much. I actually hopped over here from Katney - so glad I did because of course, as usual, you supply the most fabulous shots. Thanks for sharing.

Gaelyn said...

Both shots are great. I missed it. I especially like seeing the dark side of the moon in your capture. Excellent SWF.

Its Time to Live said...

Hate to admit that I saw this in the night sky, took time to admire it and that was it. It never came to my slow, old mind to get the camera and use it!

Unknown said...

WOW...I saw it at home in Bangalore, India too. All of us were amazed at this unique congregation. I call it the love triangle. You have captured it very well.

Quiet Paths said...

Nice job! It was cloudy here. A beautiful sight to see.

Cheffie-Mom said...

Hi there!The title of your blog caught my attention. I'm a fellow Texan. My name is Debbie Davis. I love celebrating family, food, fun and friends! Please stop by my blog and say hello! And great post!

Louise said...

This may be the best shots I've seen of this event. Very well done.

myonlyphoto said...

Troy and Martha, excellent picture. And you are right, Bob's blog got it all....Anna :)

Anonymous said...

Very nice shot, last picture is one of my favorite picture.