The two innermost planets have been prominent in the post-sunset western skies for a few weeks, during which time I've had a few good looks at them with binoculars but dodgy weather had prevented me from getting any pics. This evening I took the opportunity to get out with the camera and tripod to bag a few shots. I've not gone through the whole batch yet, but this one's looking favourite:
(Mouseover for the annotated version, click for the biggie)
Venus, Mercury and a few stars. Nikon D50 with 35mm prime, 5s @ F/1.8, ISO 200, taken at 21:13 on 11/04/2010
If the others are any better I'll let you know.
THE SMALL(ish) PRINT... (updated 23/07/2016)
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😀
Wow! Thanks! I was out on Thursday Night and didnt have a clue what they were. If you have a moment, could you look at the latest night picture I have posted on the walk-dartmoor blog; is that Venus to the lower RHS of the Cross?
Thanks
Shamus
Just had a look, Shamus, that's a nice pic 😎
Yes, that is Venus to the right of the Cross, and Mercury to the right of Venus. The "V" of Taurus (The Hyades) is prominent to the left of the head of the Cross, which is hiding The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters.
It's alleged that only about one percent of the population have ever knowingly seen Mercury, so welcome to the club 😀
Lovely photo, BG!
So if you do the whole star analyzing I might need to send you over to my blog to tell me what is the star in the first photo of the Salamajärvi trip report!?
@Hendrik - I'll have a look after I've done the school run (walk), Hendrik.
@Hendrik - Ok, I've had a look at your pic and I reckon the brightest dot is Venus and I'd say that the much fainter dot to the right of it is Mercury, so it looks like you're in the club too 😎
FWIW, here are a few links to software useful for this sort of thing:
http://www.winstars.net/english/ - free, easy to use, light on system resources.
http://www.starrynightstore.com/17235.html - expensive, heavy on system resources, good. I use this to control the kit in my observatory-shed. There are cheaper, less-functional versions. Their educational software is good.
http://www.stellarium.org/ - free, supposed to be good, I've not used it.
A late "Thank you!" for the information, now I am again a bit smarter. As we approach now the time of the midnight sun, star gazing will have to wait once more till the darker time of the year - which will surely come soon enough!
@Hendrik - I'm happy to have been of service, Hendrik. I look forward to your next sky pics - a time-lapse of the midnight sun, perhaps?