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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Did you see this?

On Monday night the moon, Venus, and Jupiter were the closest they will be until sometime in the year 2052. (It is actually a specific time in 2052, and if you plan to watch then, you can look it up. Personally, I will be 106 years old and my keepers won't likely let me stay up for it.)
Now, these are really pretty dreadful shots of it--you can click and enlarge them to see how shaky they are. I took them with my Kodak EZ Share sitting on top of the car zoomed out to 10x. It would help if I would make myself a beanbag for such occasions, though at this distance it likely would not have made a great deal of difference. Don't be afraid to try shooting moonshots with a simple camera, though. You never know what you might manage.
Oh, it was the camera sitting on top of the car, not me. Goodness, what were you thinking? I can just see the image and me breaking something getting down and it wouldn't be the car.
If you want to see some really good shots of the conjunction, try Ramblings Around Texas, and for a real treat go see Bob at Blackholes and astrostuff--a real sky aficionado. Bob tells us that there will be a conjunction of Jupiter, Mercury and the Moon on December 28, visible just after sunset in the southwest sky just above the horizon.
Hoping for clear skies then, and in the meantime, more Skywatch photos will be found linked at the Skywatch site--maybe even more conjunction photos this week. Okay, Blogger is not letting me link that--it's http://www.skyley.blogspot.com/
Oh, you'll want to go see the Astronomy Photo of the Day site, too. December 3 and 4 photos are from the conjunction on Monday. Incredible shots.
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24 comments:

  1. Texas TravelersDecember 4, 2008 at 9:41 AM

    Thanks for the link and your photos are great.

    Way cool,
    Troy

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  2. AnonymousDecember 4, 2008 at 11:48 AM

    Great photo - but up here in the Southern Hemisphere, or maybe it was the time-zone, we had a smiley face as the moon was on the other side of the planets. My photos were atrocious!

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  3. JanDecember 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM

    I did the same shots and had the same out come. Mine will do, and so will yours.

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  4. Pretty Life OnlineDecember 4, 2008 at 1:04 PM

    Great shot! Have an enjoyable weekend! Hope you get time to visit mine too.

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  5. Kathie BrownDecember 4, 2008 at 1:14 PM

    Turn these photos upside down and it will look like a frowny face! If your keeper won't let you stay up for that, perhaps he will let you look down on it all! See you above in 2052!

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  6. imacDecember 4, 2008 at 1:17 PM

    Wonderful captures.

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  7. AnonymousDecember 4, 2008 at 1:47 PM

    I completely forgot to go out and look - until the next day when photos were showing up on Flickr. I think yours are just fine, and I'm glad you shared.

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  8. PJDecember 4, 2008 at 2:32 PM

    I've been hearing snippets here and there about the event, I'm glad you had a chance to actually see it. Really great.

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  9. MaryDecember 4, 2008 at 3:01 PM

    I did see these planets in the sky the other night and tried to get a photo with dreadful results. You did good!

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  10. AnonymousDecember 4, 2008 at 3:04 PM

    These are great photos! It's great to see others were able to capture this as well for sky watch! :)

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  11. Photo CacheDecember 4, 2008 at 4:11 PM

    No I did not. But many of you my fellow skywatchers were lucky enough to witness it and shared with us. Thanks.

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  12. Sandi McBrideDecember 4, 2008 at 5:15 PM

    Beautiful
    Sandi

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  13. PERBSDecember 4, 2008 at 6:23 PM

    Too many clouds here -- couldn't even see the sliver of a moon.

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  14. LewDecember 4, 2008 at 6:50 PM

    I did see it, took one photo and was going to come out later with tripod, but moon was behind the trees when I checked later. You got a good shot for handheld!

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  15. Jane Hards PhotographyDecember 5, 2008 at 4:26 AM

    There are a few of these tonight ans like yours they are all pretty special. Unusual beauty of a nightscene.

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  16. GretchenDecember 5, 2008 at 10:08 AM

    I do wish I had taken a break and shot the sky! Thanks for sharing it. :)

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  17. Rune EideDecember 5, 2008 at 10:20 AM

    I didn't even get a chance to try!

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  18. DarylDecember 5, 2008 at 1:30 PM

    Another great shot of the Trifecta .. and I love your new comment photo!

    :-Daryl

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  19. This Is My Blog - fishing guyDecember 5, 2008 at 3:31 PM

    Katney: Neat capture of the conjuction of the three.

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  20. Max-eDecember 5, 2008 at 8:25 PM

    Hi Katney, I did see this, but from the Southern hemisphere perspective. Unlike yoou I did not photograph it and I am still kicking myself, but I will get over it.

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  21. ArijaDecember 5, 2008 at 11:43 PM

    Nice one Katney. Wasn't it a fun night?

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  22. GaelynDecember 6, 2008 at 8:06 PM

    Didn't get to see it, too cloudy. But I sure have been enjoying many other's view, including yours. Thanks for sharing.

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  23. CathDecember 7, 2008 at 12:20 PM

    I'll look up those other links and no - I didn't see it but thanks for sharing it with us! It is so interesting because some one in Australia ("Annie" - link on the post above in my comment) also posted this sight from her side of the world and it looks so different! It is like a happy smiley face. Fascinating.

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  24. Bob JohnsonDecember 7, 2008 at 5:37 PM

    Hey, thanks so much for the link back and great shots,wow.

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