|
| |
Conjunctions occur when planets and/or the Moon
come within a few degrees of each other.
Alignments occur when the planets, the Moon or
stars form a more-or-less straight or curved line in the sky.
All images below were acquired from my home in Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada unless otherwise noted - Lat:
48° 26' 45" Long: 123° 21' 30" Elev: 43m.
Take the time to
adjust your monitor
before viewing my online photos, and you will see them at their best.
| Image |
Date/Time |
Description |
Settings |
 |
2005.06.27
10:20pm PDT |
Venus - Mercury - Saturn
In the evening twilight, Mercury and
Venus are
high in the NW sky and only 1°apart. Saturn is below the pair near the
horizon.
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5.6, 1/3 sec, fl=200mm, ISO 400, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
3072x2048 image reduced to 800x590 size, moderate contrast stretch,
saturation enhanced and adaptive unsharp applied. |
 |
2005.06.22
10:13pm PDT |
Venus - Mercury - Saturn
In the evening twilight, all three
planets are
high in the NW sky: Saturn - Venus - Mercury (left to right).
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5, 1/6 sec, fl=100mm, ISO 400, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
3072x2048 image reduced to 800x460 size, agressive contrast stretch and
saturation enhanced. |
 |
2005.03.11
7:16pm PST |
Moon - Mercury
In the evening twilight, Mercury is
high in the sky and only 3° north of the waxing, one day old crescent Moon.
Earthshine on the dark side of the Moon reveals lunar features. Light
pollution over Victoria reflects off the clouds.
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/6.3, 3.2 sec, fl=90mm, ISO 400, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
ImagesPlus: Digital develop Canon Raw to 48bit tif.
Corel PhotoPaint:
2048x3072 image reduced to 533x800 size, 48bit to 24 bit conversion,
moderate contrast stretch, and some internal lens reflections fixed. |
 |
2004.11.05
6:18am PST |
Jupiter - Venus
In early morning twilight, this pair of
planets are striking in the SE sky. Jupiter is to the right of brilliant Venus by
0.6° - a very close conjunction..
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/6.3, 1.3 sec, fl=200mm, ISO 400, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
ImagesPlus: Digital develop Canon Raw to 48bit tif, moderate contrast
stretch.
Corel PhotoPaint:
3072x2048 image cropped to 800x615 size, 48bit to 24 bit conversion. |
 |
2004.11.03
6:08am PST |
Jupiter - Venus
In early morning twilight, this pair of
planets are striking in the SE sky. Jupiter is below brilliant Venus by 1.5°,
with Zaniah (mag 4 star) above Venus and to the right by about the same
offset distance.
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/6.3, 4 sec, fl=90mm, ISO 400, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
ImagesPlus: Digital develop Canon Raw to 48bit tif, 2x2 bin, contrast
stretch.
Corel PhotoPaint:
3072x2048 image cropped to 800x628 size, 48bit to 24 bit conversion. |
 |
2004.08.17
9:03pm PDT |
Jupiter - Moon
A one day old Moon shows
a hint of Earthshine as it sinks into the West just after sunset with its
companion Jupiter south of it by only 3°.
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5.6, 1/8 sec, fl=200mm, efl=320mm, ISO 800, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
original 3072x2048 image cropped & reduced to 800x533 size,
contrast & saturation adjusted slightly to enhance sky colour. |
 |
2004.04.22
8:57pm PST |
Venus - Moon
Separation 4° - a 2 day old Moon shows
some Earthshine as it sinks into the West.
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5.6, 1/6 sec, 165mm fl, ISO 800, -1EV, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
original 3072x2048 image cropped & reduced to 533x800 size,
contrast adjusted to enhance sky colour,
moderate adaptive unsharp. |
Starry Night Protm image showing star names for this image |
2004.03.30
8:15pm PSTLocation:
Summit Park, Victoria |
Venus - Pleiades - Mars
Venus is less than 1° south of the
Pleiades in this image, with Mars just above and to the left of Venus.
This is also a good illustration of how
much light pollution is present in Victoria's skies. |
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5, 15 sec, 18mm fl, ISO 400, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
original 2048x3072 image cropped & reduced to 550x800 size,
contrast & saturation adjusted and moderate adaptive unsharp applied to enhance
Pleiades. |
 |
2004.01.24
4:42pm PST |
Venus - Moon Conjunction - daylight
Separation 5° - Moon setting in the West
Sunset 5:00pm, so this image was taken
about 20 minutes before sunset.
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, 200mm fl, ISO 100, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
original 3072x2048 image cropped & reduced to 798x447 size,
contrast & saturation adjusted to enhance moon detail and sky colour,
moderate adaptive unsharp. |
 |
2004.01.24
8:05pm PST |
Venus - Moon Conjunction - dark
Separation 5° - Moon setting in the West
This image was taken the same day as
the one above, but about an hour before the Moon and Venus set in the west.
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5.6, 1/15 sec, 165mm fl, ISO 100, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint: original 3072x2048
image cropped & reduced to 800x452 size, contrast & saturation
adjusted to enhance moon detail and darken sky, moderate adaptive unsharp. |
 |
2003.11.03
12:54am PST |
Mars-
Moon Conjunction
Separation 3° - Moon setting in the West
|
Camera:
Canon EOS 300D, f/5.6, 1/4 sec, 135mm, ISO 800, WB:daylight. Image Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
original 3072x2048 image cropped & reduced to 700x677 size. |
 |
2003.07.17
1:39am PDT |
Mars-
Moon Conjunction
Separation 0.3°
Location: 3046 Jackson St., Victoria |
Camera:
Nikon Coolpix 4500, f/5.1, 96mm, ISO 400, max 4x optical zoom & max
digital zoom 3x, 2x telephoto
Moon: 1/500 sec
Mars: 1/125 secImage Processing:
Corel PhotoPaint:
original 2272x1704 image reduced by 50% size. Composite image. |
 |
2002.06.11
10:21pm |
Venus-Moon-Jupiter Conjunction
Looking WNW. Venus is super
bright and Jupiter is dim (beside the Crescent Moon). The moon is only
at day 2 of its cycle.
Location: Peacock Hill, top of Tolmie Ave,
Victoria |
Camera: 1/2 sec f4
20mm - Nikon Coolpix 950 at ISO100,
1191x1061 |
 |
2002-05-15
10:10pm |
Jupiter-Moon-Saturn-Mars Alignment
(Mercury is below the horizon), looking
WNW. Capella is the bright star at a perpendicular from Saturn off
the line of planets ...but what is that crescent shape between Saturn and
Capella?? The streak in the sky (lower left) is just an aircraft con
trail, not a comet!
Location: Peacock Hill, top of Tolmie Ave,
Victoria |
Camera:
5 sec f/2.4 50mm, Minolta XD-11 SLR,
Fuji Superia X-TRA ISO 400 35mm film scanned at 1000 dpi
[Microtek 35t+ film scanner] |
 |
2002-05-15
10:10pm |
Jupiter-Moon-Saturn-Mars
Alignment
(Mercury is below the horizon), looking
WNW. Capella is the bright star at a perpendicular from Saturn off
the line of planets.
Thanks to David Lee, President of the
local RASC Victoria
Chapter for solving the mystery. The crescent shape was an image
of the moon in a wrong location, caused by an internal lens reflection of
the overexposed moon. For this image, I cut and pasted the reflected
image on top of the flared image, producing a more pleasing rendition of the
planetary alignment.
Location: Peacock Hill, top of Tolmie Ave,
Victoria |
Camera:
5 sec f/2.4 50mm, Minolta XD-11 SLR,
Fuji Superia X-TRA ISO 400 35mm film scanned at 1000 dpi
[Nikon Super Coolscan 4000ED
film scanner] |
Take the time to
adjust your monitor
before viewing my online photos, and you will see them at their best.
|
