Pre-dawn clouds Friday and Saturday kept me from shooting a couple of wonderful convergences this week.

Yesterday (June 19, 2009), the crescent Moon grouped with Venus and Mars. Venus was to the lower right of the Moon, and the much fainter Mars was between them. The clouds were just broken enough that I was able to get an occasional glimpse of this Friday morning, but I wasn’t able to get any pictures.

The best planetary convergence of May 2009 occurred this morning, with the Moon, Venus and Mars forming a triangle in the eastern, pre-dawn sky. Being in the eastern sky, there was considerable light pollution coming from Austin and Round Rock. I didn’t feel like driving to the other side of Williamson County at 5am, so I just worked with it as best I could.

Mars is in the lowest part of the images, many times only visible as a small dot. It was actually a bit more visible to the naked eye, with a clear reddish tint.

For those out in about in the early hours this morning, you may have been treated to an unusual site, the moon and venus right next to each other in the sky. This dance between the moon and venus has been going on for a few months, but this morning, the crescent moon actually passed in front of a crescent venus (known as an occultation in astronomy).

I’m not what you would call a morning person (I much prefer to shoot in the late evening), but I drug myself out of bed to take some pictures of this. This conjunction was bright enough that I could actually shoot it from my front yard, without having to drive away from the bright lights.

In what has become a busy week for astrophotography, the Moon and Venus danced close together this evening, with the Moon in its faintest mode and Venus in its brightest.

Both were actually crescents. Unlike the Moon, which is in a crescent phase when it is least bright, Venus is at its brightest when it is a crescent. This is because it can only be a crescent when it is relatively close to us, and can only be full when it is on the other side of the sun from us (and thus fainter due to distance).

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had quite a few people ask me, “What’s that incredibly bright star in the western sky just after sunset?”
Actually, it’s no star. It’s our sister planet Venus, and she’s so bright because she’s relatively close to us right now.
We are still getting closer, so Venus will gain in brightness [...]

The skies Monday night were clear as could be for the convergence of the three brightest objects in the night sky, the Moon, Venus and Jupiter.

That’s Venus at six o’clock and Jupiter at four o’clock. Obviously, the Moon is at eleven o’clock.
I shot in a part of my Cedar Park subdivision that is only partially [...]

For those that don’t know, there is an interesting convergence of celestial objects occurring right now. The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, have been moving closer and closer together over the last few weeks. Tonight and tomorrow night, they are only two degrees apart.
It was a tough night for astrophotography. The convergence occurs just [...]

If you’ve been watching the skies for the last few weeks, you’ve seen an interesting show just after sunset. The two brightest stars in our sky, Venus and Jupiter, have been getting closer and closer.
The highlight will be December 1st when a waxing crescent moon joins the show.
I’ll be shooting both November 30th and December [...]