Friday, September 5, 2014

Skywatch Night and Day

Here are a few sky snapshots from the past two weeks. The nighttime scenes didn't show up in my photos nearly as well as seeing them in person. Maybe I should have used a tripod.

Recently there were two conjunctions about a week apart where the moon and planets appeared close together in the sky.  The first trio had Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon:

Venus - Jupiter - moon 8/23/14 5:32 am
The next conjunction was Mars, Saturn and the moon. It almost looked like a smiley face in the sky. It's hard to see but there was even a star for the nose named Zubinelgenubi.

Mars - Saturn - moon 8/30/14 8:59 pm
The next night the moon appeared  above Mars and Saturn forming a tighter triangle than the previous evening.

Mars - Saturn - moon  8/31/14 9:03 pm
This is what the Mars, Saturn, moon conjunction looked like from the neighborhood except the moon was more like a crescent instead of a large white dot:

Mars - Saturn - moon  8/31/14 9:03 pm
Here I zoomed in just on the moon:

waxing crescent 8/31/14 7:54 pm
The appearance of the constellation Orion in the eastern predawn sky marks the change of seasons. In the photo below, Orion is at the right and the three stars of his belt point down to Sirius, the dog star of Canis Major, the brightest star of the night sky.

Orion and Sirius 8/24/14 4:42 am
Even though it was getting light out I could still see Orion. Notice the reddish star on the left side of the constellation, that is Betelgeuse standing in for the hunter's right shoulder. If you are up before sunrise this month look southeast for Orion and the dog star, Sirius.

Orion and Sirius 8/24/14 5:23 am
Now for some clouds:







Linking to Skywatch Friday.

H a p p y   S k y w a t c h i n g !

13 comments:

rainfield61 said...

Darkness and night, full of mysteries.

Anonymous said...

You got some gorgeous sky shots.

Darla said...

Beautiful and educational in one fell swoop - thank you! :-)

cieldequimper said...

Oh wow you saw the trio! No chance of this happening here, way too many clouds. Thanks, this is magical for me!

Rohrerbot said...

Excellent night shots! I was wondering if we were having some interplanetary interactions going on. The other night I noticed two very bright "stars" that were too close to be stars:)

Spare Parts and Pics said...

Beautiful shots, including a great moon shot! I love doing night photography, but sadly I haven't taken the time to learn the planets or constellations!

Thérèse said...

I simply love your explanations. Too many clouds up there to see anything around here this past month...

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! I'm always too lazy to drag a tripod out so I never get good night shots. You have clearer skies than we do, though, so yours come out much better.

betty-NZ said...

What great skies! I find the stars fascinating but don't know one from the other :)

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your night sky pictures, Diane.

maryaustria said...

Gorgeous and beautiful skies! And thank you for your little lesson - it´s great!

PJ van Zyl said...

great share of the nights sky

Magia da Inês said...

。°°。✿⊱。
Série linda de fotos, muito interessante também.
Bom mês de setembro!·..✿✿
♪♬♫°。 Boa semana!
Beijinhos.✿°.•