Tuesday, March 6, 2012

One Night - four planets!

What a night for astrophotography!

On March 3rd, the night of the Mars opposition, conditions here cleared up to allow for some excellent planetary viewing.  Jupiter, Venus and Mercury were clearly visible in western sky just after sunset.  Mars rose high in the sky and was overhead at midnight.  I snapped a photo of the three planets in the western sky with my Pentax K-x and a wide angle lens, then turned my Meade LX-200 and StarImage camera to the sky and made the four-planet mosaic below.



Top to bottom: Jupiter, Venus and Mercury (the tiny dot of light just above the lower power lines.)



Four Planet Mosaic

Friday, February 24, 2012

Mercury

Mercury on February 22, 2012 taken with an Orion Starshoot through a Meade ATX-80.  Mercury is about 2/3 full as it comes around the sun.