Moon, Venus and Mercury Conjunction

What a wonderful site this morning. The thin crescent moon with earthshine, bright Venus to it's right, and elusive Mercury below. This is my southeast horizon from Pueblo West right out my front door. The steam you see rising just above the horizon is from the Comanche Generating Station 17 miles away.

Five Planets in the Morning Sky

Feb 4, 2016

I woke up about 5:30 a.m. to a windy, cold but clear morning. I quickly set up my camera on a tripod in front of my home, which thankfully blocked most of the cold wind. By 6:00 a.m. I could see Mercury to the lower left of brighter Venus, both near the brightening horizon. The moon, higher and to their right shown brilliantly. Saturn was a bit higher to the moon's right. A bit higher yet and next to the roof of the house sits Mars. On the other side of the peaked roof is blue Spica (not a planet) and to the far right next to the roof is giant Jupiter.

I had to shoot nine images side by side and with the format of the camera set vertical to grab all of the planets in this 90 degree field of view. I stitched all nine images using the free panoramic maker Image Composite Editor, by Mircosoft.

Jupiter, Moon, Venus Conjunction II

This evening the triple conjunction was pretty nice from Powell Observatory at Lewis-Young park in Louisburg, KS. Look closely to see the Gemini twins, Pollux and Castor, just above the dome. The 30" telescope can just be seen inside the 20-foot dome. The smaller dome houses a 12" scope used for astrophotography. Hundreds of people listened to talks about astronomy, looked through the 30" and many other telescopes set up in the field by members of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City.

Moon, Jupiter and Venus Conjunction

Driving home from visiting with friends I had to stop and take picture of the lovely conjunction of the Moon with the planets Jupiter and Venus. The twins, Pollux and Caster, are way over to the right and faintly visible just above the trees. They are the major stars in the constellation Gemini. After many days of constant rain it was so nice to have a day with clear skies for a change.

Rainbow

After a wonderful dinner with my sister and her husband, we arrived at her home in Pueblo, CO when I saw this rainbow. I took 6 pictures, 3 for the top half and 3 for the bottom half. I stitched them in the program ICE (Image Composite Editor), a free stitching program from Microsoft.

Venus Passes Close to the Seven Sisters

Looking West soon after the sun on April 10, Venus was a beautiful sight near the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters. The image was taken with a 24mm lens at f/4 for 10 seconds, ISO 1600.  The Orion Nebula, the fuzzy spot in the sword of Orion can easily be seen. Another star cluster, the Hyades, is the V-shaped grouping in the constellation Taurus.

Time Lapse of April 4, 2015 Lunar Eclipse over KC

I finally finished the Time Lapse of the April 4, 2015 Lunar Eclipse setting over the Kansas City skyline. A surprise for me was also seeing the earth's shadow drop behind the buildings soon after the Moon set.