I took this shot of Jupiter, Mars, Venus and the Moon on my way to work this morning. I thought it looked rather nice!
And here’s a version with labels, just in case you wondered.
Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and The Moon in October 2015
Mars and The Moon in April 2014
When I was looking at my Star Chart application last week, I noticed that on the evening of the 14th of April Mars would nice and close to the Moon in Virgo. I set myself a reminder walk up my closest hill and take some snaps.
With almost-full Moon this bright you can’t get both celestial objects in the same shot without either Mars being too dark, or the Moon being be too bright. I don’t think it matters in this photo though, you can clearly see Mars, Theta Virginis and Spica through the trees.
I think it all looks rather nice.
While I was up there waiting for it to get dark I took a few more photos. Above you can see the glow of Leeds in the evening sky, and below you can see Jupiter in Gemini.
Later on in the evening, my American friends were able to enjoy a nice lunar eclipse. Here’s a lovely photograph taken by Jon Philpott through his telescope.
New Moon in March 2012
Last night I went to Scarborough for some ‘Astro Dog Astronomy‘ and took these lovely pictures of the New Moon in March 2012.
This photo was actually taken with a lens borrowed from Annette Newby – thanks! It looks great, and you can see a close up below.
As well ask the new moon, Jupiter and Venus were pretty close by giving us the fantastic view of these two great planets that we have been used to for the last few months. Venus is on top in this photograph…
And how could I resist getting a close up picture of Jupiter with three of its largest moons in view.
I had a great night, and I also managed some firsts. While I had seen the phases of Venus before, I’d never seen them with such clarity, and a definite first was seeing detail on Mars (including ice caps and dark features!) Very impressive.