Venus – Page 2 – Into the West

Saturn Squeezing Venus

I went to bed Sunday night lamenting the end of my longest vacation in over a decade. I double-checked and triple-checked my return-to-work checklist (security badge, laptop, cell phone, sunglasses, lunch bag, work clothes and shoes, etc.) before nodding off. I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm went off at five o’clock. I jumped out of bed and had myself dressed and ready to go before half past five. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss this morning’s Saturn-Venus photo opportunity.

I got everything, including the camera and tripod, packed into the back of the van and drove up the hill, squinting through the frosty windshield, to the library parking lot. I left the van running with the defroster on half-blast, but turned off the headlights. I setup the tripod and camera on the sidewalk, but quickly became concerned by the slight breeze from the north, which could (and did) jiggle the camera during the longer exposures necessitated by the pre-dawn darkness.

I changed lenses on the camera back to my normal lens and took a couple of wide angle shots to begin with:

I adjusted the brightness (something I rarely do since I don’t own Photoshop and need to learn how to use Gimp) to make the horizon a bit more visible.

Shortly after six o’clock, I observed Mercury and took a photo in portrait orientation (vertical) to include all three planets and the star Spica:

Because I needed to begin the commute to work at a quarter past six, I had to stop taking photos early. A good thing, too, since my batteries, which I had just put in before yesterday morning’s photo session, had already depleted due to the cold temperatures and long exposure times. I did take the time to switch back to my telephoto lens to zoom in on several of the prime targets.

I managed to snatch a closeup of Venus and Saturn and of Mercury and Alpha Librae before I packed up the equipment and left for work:

VenusSaturnCloseupwithLabels — Saturn squeezing closer to Venus (click image for rest of album)

MercuryAlphaLibraeBrightenedwithLabels — Mercury just risen near Alpha Librae (adjusted brightness to improve visibility)

Tomorrow morning, weather permitting clear skies, I will attempt to capture Saturn as it slips past and above Venus.

Begining of the End

I learned last night at the November general meeting of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City that we have just fifty days (forty-nine as I write this blog) until the end of a Mayan age (the 13th Bak’tun). More commonly known to us as the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2012 (12/21/12 or 21/12/12 depending on your longitude). I had a lot on my mind as I drifted off to sleep last night, but when I woke to clear skies and a newly risen Venus blinking at me through the bare branches of trees along my eastern horizon, I shook off the last vestiges of ancient doom and gloom and braved the brisk late fall pre-dawn environs with my tripod and camera.

Armed with new tips and techniques garnered from Tom Martinez’s astrophotography presentation during the club’s Astro 101 session, I attempted a long exposure (ten seconds long) of the Big Dipper using my normal lens:

I was gratified to discover that my camera can take even longer exposures without the necessity of a handheld remote. Not that I don’t plan to purchase a remote for it soon though.

I didn’t attempt to capture Canis Major or Orion in a long exposure since I would have been shooting west over the well-lit parking lot of City Hall. Instead, I turned my camera towards the southeast and bright shining Venus and the slightly dimmer Saturn.

VenusSaturnMercurySpicaArcturusWideAngleShot3secExpWithLabels — Wide angle shot of Venus, Saturn and Mercury (click image for rest of album)

I knew Mercury had risen shortly after six o’clock, but I couldn’t see it clearly until about a quarter after.

MercuryAlphaLibrae4secExp — Mercury & Alpha Librae in a four second long exposure.

Later, I accidentally captured not only Mercury, but a passing plane, as it took off from KCI (northeast of my location).

MercuryAlphaLibrae1secExpAWBwithPlaneStreak — Passing Plane (the streak) approaching Mercury

When I got back to my laptop and downloaded the photos, I also double-checked and compared them to the alignment at the time they were taken using the Star Dome Plus java applet at Astronomy.com:
A short successful photo shoot this morning. I didn’t hang around for the sunrise, since I judged it wouldn’t be as pretty as the one I captured Saturday morning.

VenusSaturnMercuryAlphaLibrae3secExpAWB — Venus-Saturn-Mercury Line-up Sunday morning 11/25/2012

Weather permitting, I’ll be repeating this activity for the next two or three mornings. I’m excited to see Venus and Saturn pass each other in the night (or very early morning).

And next week I’m going to wish I was visiting Egypt to witness a once in 2,737 years event involving these same three planets and the Great Pyramids at Giza.

Return of Saturn

The new moon occurs tomorrow just eight minute’s past four o’clock in the afternoon. I reviewed the sun rise and moon rise times for today, tomorrow and the next day as compared to the time the new moon happens. And, once again, the ‘holy grail’ of observing a moon less than one day from dying or one day new-born eludes me. Tomorrow morning, on the 13th of November, 2012, moon rise occurs at 6:41 a.m. Central, just twenty minutes before the sun rises. If that wasn’t ‘bad’ enough, I’ll be driving the van for the Tuesday commute to work at that time. My final rider pickup occurs at that time, so I may be able to take a couple of minutes with my binoculars to see if I can see the almost dead moon about eight hours before it is reborn as the new moon. I don’t have high hopes though, as twenty minutes before sun rise is quite bright and the eastern horizon will be hazy unless I’m extremely lucky. And the chance of catching any sign of the extremely young moon (less than an hour old by sun set tomorrow night) is even slimmer than the crescent moon would appear at that time.

Countertop & Backsplash Refinishing (click photo for rest of album)

I woke up knowing the temperatures had plummeted to the lower 20s overnight, leaving the sky crystal clear and killing the wind we’ve had for the past week. Since my kitchen is completely unusable for the next week or so, I decided to pack up the van for the Monday commute, start it up (since frost completely covered all the windows) and gather up my camera equipment for an pre-dawn frigid photo shoot of the nearly dead moon.

I drove the still cold and nearly empty van up the hill to the dead-end in front of City Hall. I left the van running to continue the process of thawing out the windows and doors while I took the tripod and camera a few feet back up the hill to the east side lawn of City Hall. I could barely see the new risen moon through the leafless trees lining the south and southeastern horizon. I found a spot where the moon just clear the tree limbs and setup the camera equipment. I took my first photo at 5:47 a.m., about nineteen minutes after the moon rose (at 5:28 a.m.). I tried various settings and exposures, while trying to keep my hands warm and not shake the camera too much. I took several unsatisfactory photos for about ten minutes and then returned to the van. I needed to fill up the gas tank and get something warm to drink before heading south to pickup my first setup of riders. My local rider had the day off because he’s a federal employee and today is the day set aside to observe and honor our veterans.

ThreePercentIlluminated0610am12Nov2012 — Illuminted 3% at 6:10 a.m. Central Mon 12 Nov 2012

After filling up the van, I drove back up the hill so I could cross Main Street using the light between City Hall and the Library and just happened to look east again. I noticed the colors caused by twilight and pulled into the Library’s parking lot for a second photo shoot. I quickly reset up the camera and took another ten minutes worth of photos before continuing on to Scooters for a warm mocha and a caramel apple scone.

VenusSpicaSaturnWaningMoon0712am12Nov2012labeled — Venus, Saturn, Spica and the Waning Moon

I downloaded the photos from the camera and reviewed them. I threw away most of the first photo shoot because I forget to set the two second delay timer and most of them were blurry. I logged into my Astronomy.com account and downloaded the sky dome for the east-southeastern horizon to confirm and label the objects photographed above.

I had completely forgotten that Saturn had finally come out from behind the sun to become visible once again in the early morning. In fact, Saturn rose just nine minutes after the moon did, although my camera did not capture it in my first photo shoot, probably because it was hiding behind some tree limbs.

I also photographed the Big Dipper, Orion, Canis Major and the Pleiades, but decided not to share the photos with anyone yet. Because I didn’t change from my telephoto lens to my normal one, I did not get all the stars in the handle of the Big Dipper nor did I capture all of the stars in Orion.

I’ll probably miss this weekend’s meteor shower, as I will be otherwise occupied during the day and not in a location that will provided dark enough skies to properly observe a shower. A solar eclipse occurs tomorrow, but only for those excessively lucky people who live in the South Pacific. For more of what’s up this week, visit Astronomy’s the Sky this Week website.

Oh So Close

I almost forgot to check the eastern horizon this morning. I hit the off button instead of the snooze button so I started awake around 5:30 a.m. in a near panic for oversleeping. As I rushed around the house getting ready for work, my brain finally dislodged this tidbit I had read via Astronomy.com sometime over the past weekend:

Wednesday, October 3

Venus dominates the morning sky all week after it rises around 3:30 a.m. local daylight time. It shines at magnitude –4.1, which makes it the brightest point of light in the sky, and climbs more than 25° above the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise. Be sure to watch for it this morning, however, because it passes just 7′ (one-quarter of the Full Moon’s diameter) south of Leo the Lion’s brightest star, Regulus. This is the closest any planet approaches a 1st-magnitude star during 2012. A telescope will show both objects in the same field of view. Look closely and you’ll see Venus’ 16″-diameter disk, which appears about 70 percent lit.

The Sky this Week: September 28–October 7, 2012

I had to re-attach the tripod mount to the bottom of the Pentax camera because I had used it the night before to try my new binoculars with the tripod mount attachment. The waning moon hung just over the roof of my house as I stood in the driveway setting up the tripod and camera. I could see bright Venus with my naked eye (of course, it’s the brightest thing in the sky besides the moon) but I wasn’t sure I could see Regulus without some optical aid.

I peered through the tiny viewfinder in the camera and could clearly see Regulus above Venus. I took several photos, only one of which I liked well enough to label, upload and use in this post (see above). Not many other stars are visible in the photo above, but here’s the sky chart for the eastern horizon from my location as of the date/time the photo was taken:

I did not drag either telescope out of the house and into the driveway. I didn’t have time to re-assembly Dob and the ETX-90 just takes too long to setup, align, configure, etc. I did use my new binoculars, without a tripod, and looked at Venus and Regulus, Sirius, Orion’s Sword, the Pleiades, Jupiter and its moons and our own satellite (although I saved it for last as I became blinded by its light with just a quick look).

With rain forecast for Friday and possibly Saturday, I doubt I’ll be stargazing much this weekend. I may take advantage of the KC Renaissance Festival’s discount on tickets for an inclement weather forecast and the pirate themed weekend events.

Sunrise ~ Ides of September

I went to bed a bit disappointed with the cloud cover. My astronomy club’s monthly star party got cancelled because of lingering overcast. I spent a pleasant evening with my husband watching the first part of Sergeant York while he napped. I only made it about thirty minutes myself before I dozed off.

I woke up to clouds creeping up from the south. I didn’t have any chance at all to glimpse the last vestige of the dying moon (it’s turns new today), so I took the lemons the dawn gave me and made sunrise lemonade.

I went up the hill and setup the camera and tripod east of Lansing City Hall. I took several photos over the course of thirty or forty minutes, right up until sunrise, when it fizzled. To see the best of the photos in an album from this morning, click on the image of pre-dawn Venus (centered) below:

Pre-dawn Venus (Sat 9/15/2012) - click image for rest of album — Pre-dawn Venus (Sat 9/15/2012) – click image for rest of album

Beeline to Beehive

I received the alert from my calendar ten minutes before five o’clock Wednesday morning. I wanted to make sure I woke up early enough to have dark skies (well, as dark as they get in my neck of the woods) to observe the Beehive Cluster aligned with Venus and the waning Moon. I planned ahead and had all my equipment ready to go before I went to bed Tuesday night. I subscribe to several astronomy related RSS feeds and always review Astronomy.com‘s “The Sky This Week” as soon as it’s updated to make sure I mark my calendar for interesting observation events. The following is an excerpt from this week’s article:

VenusCancerBeehiveCluster-finder-chart-12Sep2012-5am — Venus meets the swarm of stars known as the Beehive Cluster (M44) in mid-September. Binoculars deliver great views, particularly when a waning crescent Moon joins the scene on the 12th. Astronomy.com: Roen Kelly

Wednesday, September 12: If you enjoy seeing spectacular celestial alignments, this is the morning for you. A waning crescent Moon stands 4° southwest of brilliant Venus before dawn while the planet resides 3° southwest of the Beehive star cluster (M44). Although the scene will be lovely with naked eyes under a dark sky, binoculars will deliver the best views. To see the Beehive clearly, you’ll need to observe before twilight begins around 5 a.m. local daylight time. The Moon and Venus remain stunning until about 15 minutes before the Sun rises (from Astronomy.com‘s “Sky This Week” article).

A few stray small puffy clouds drifted around the night sky. A slight breeze blew in from the south or southwest, but my house sheltered the driveway where I setup the tripod and camera. I could not see any of the stars in the constellation Cancer with my naked eye. I live less than ten miles due west, as a bird flies, from the Kansas City International Airport, and the rest of Kansas City sprawls continuously south along the eastern horizon down to the southeast quadrant. Seeing anything faint below 20 degrees above the horizon is not easily accomplished.

With my binoculars, I could see the stars that make up Cancer, and I could clearly see the Beehive Cluster (M44). I affixed my telephoto lens to my camera, but looking through the tiny viewfinder I could only see Venus. So I guessed as best I could with placement relative to Venus and took a few photos. I tried to capture a few other interesting objects much higher in the sky, like Jupiter, Orion’s sword, and the Pleiades again.

Orion's Belt and Sword — Orion’s Belt and Sword (Wed 9/12/2012)

Click here to see the entire album of photos from Wednesday morning.

Thursday dawned completely overcast, with rain scheduled for the entire day. We need it so I’m not complaining.

Friday night I’ll attend the club’s local star party and have already organized my observing list so I can make great strides towards my Astro Quest observing award. Friday morning, if I can manage it after observing late into the night, I hope to capture the last glimpse of the old moon before it turns new around nine o’clock Saturday evening.

Betwixt and Between

Redundant title, but I felt the need to bewitch you by using the word ‘betwixt.’ When I stepped outside this morning, about ninety minutes before sunrise, I looked up and couldn’t believe the incredibly bright stars and planets I could see against a dark sky. Very unusual sight from my front steps. I even called my husband out to look at the gorgeous perfect visibility of the entire constellation Orion. We could even see all seven stars of the Pleaides, directly overhead. I couldn’t resist the siren call of my camera, so I went back inside, grabbed the tripod and the camera and took a half dozen photos.

Waning Moon Equidistant Between Venus and Jupiter (Monday 9/10/2012)

Yesterday morning, the moon was a bit brighter and closer to Jupiter.

Jupiter with the Seven Sisters (Pleiades)

Click on any of the above images to see larger versions of them.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow morning has in store for me.

Just Passin’ Through

Waning Moon Between Jupiter and Venus (Sun 9/9/2012) – click image for larger view

I used the normal lens this morning to capture these three objects in one field of view. I also had to crank the camera back and tip it almost completely vertical, as Jupiter was almost directly overhead.

Waning Moon and Jupiter Close-up (click image for rest of album).

Fairly clear skies, so I didn’t stick around for sunrise.

Mercury Rises

I rode a rollercoaster of challenges this past weekend. On the high side, my son and daughter-in-law drove up from North Texas for a visit. On the down side, despite the worst drought in recorded history, cloud cover prevented me from observing the Perseid meteor shower Saturday night/Sunday morning and the occultation of Venus by the Moon Monday afternoon. The Ides of August dawned clear this morning, the first time in nearly a week I’ve been able to see the morning planets and waning crescent moon shining brightly above the eastern horizon.

I only hit the snooze on my alarm once, because I stayed up too late with Dob and then decided to watch the latest episode of Warehouse 13 instead of going to bed like I should have. My adventures in the backyard with the XT8 and the Intelliscope handheld computer device determined one of the sensors (probably the altitude one) is not reporting to the device as it should. I’ll have to troubleshoot that situation Thursday evening. I attempted to star hop from Deneb to the North American nebula, but seeing (visibility) proved too poor and I need more practice with the XT8 so I know which direction I’m going (what I see in the eyepiece v. what I see in the finderscope v. what I see on my star atlas).

Before the alarm could buzz a second time, I got up, got dressed, grabbed my purse and left the house. I drove the van a couple of blocks up the hill from my house to the dead end in front of City Hall, where I have a completely unobstructed view of the eastern horizon (I routinely see airplanes take off and land at KCI and can usually see the control tower as well). I retrieved the camera and tripod from the back of the van and had it setup, with the normal lens attached, just shortly after 5:30 a.m. I took a few wide field shots to capture all three planets and the moon.

3 Planets 1 Dying Moon ~ 15 Aug 2012 5:49 am Central

The above photo immediately took me back six months, when I went hunting for Mercury the first time. Last Febriary, I chased after a similar lineup of Jupiter, Venus, the new moon, and Mercury, during the evening hours, looking towards the west. Now, I’m on the flipside, for real. Warm, instead of cold. East, instead of west. Dying moon, instead of newborn moon. Mercury rising, not falling.

I love seeing Orion rising in the east. To me, the Hunter heralds the approaching fall, my absolute favorite season of the year. His two canine pals nipped at his heels (Canis Minor and Canis Major), illustrating we truly are in the ‘Dog Days’ of Summer.

I took a few more shots of all three planets in one frame, then zoomed in on Mercury and the Moon, trying to capture that ellusive earthshine.

Mercury and Waning Moon (click image for rest of album)

I ended my photo shoot with several closeups of the waning moon, using my telephoto lens. I selected the best of the bunch to upload to Flickr and share here.

Next up for me, astronomically, is hunting for Neptune, which reaches peak brightness (opposition from the sun with us in the middle) on August 24th. I will need to wait until close to midnight Friday to make my first foray, when the other blue planet should be visible from my backyard (between tall trees and houses) in the southern skies, swimming in the constellation Aquarius.

Moon Overtaking Jupiter and Venus

Venus Jupiter Moon — The moon overtaking Jupiter and Venus

I fell asleep amid visions of rainbows and towering gilded sunsets dancing in my head. I woke up to clear skies this morning. Clear enough that I drug the tripod out and stuck the camera on it for a few minutes during the five o’clock hour before the sun began bleaching the eastern horizon.

Jupiter still hugged close to Aldebaran, but the most surprising sight for me was Orion visible, appearing to be lying down on the eastern horizon. I could see most of the stars in that constellation, but the moon and Venus shone significantly brighter.

As the week wears on, the moon will pass by or through the two planets. I plan to take more early morning photos until the new moon. I am especially looking forward to the opportunity presented Sunday morning, when I may be able to capture Mercury in addition to the objects shown above.

I may be staying up all night Saturday to watch the Perseid meteor shower (if you follow that link to Sky & Telescope‘s web page, you’ll see a beautiful photograph taken by local phenom astronomer Fred Bruenjes, a fellow member of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City). The weather, in addition to being much cooler, may cooperate and keep the skies clear.

I should probably take a nap Saturday or go to bed early, and then get up after midnight and drive somewhere, probably northwest of my home, to a darker sky location. Then, I should be able to see more meteors streaking through the sky, than if I lounged around in my backyard, peering through the local light pollution and leafy tall trees. But I doubt I’ll be able to take a nap, because I am also expecting out-of-town visitors for the weekend.

No rest for the aspiring amateur astronomer.