2015 Nov 05 planets
Venus shines bright in the time just before the light of dawn to the south east, coming within 1 degree of faint Mars which lies far from us in its orbit, appearing much further away, while Jupiter hangs above them. The moon draws closer to the triad as it fades the next few days …
Venus shines bright at the lower left, with Mars just to its left – Jupiter shines above them, and the star Regulus shines equidistant between Jupiter and the waning quarter Moon
Venus shines brightest in the lower left of this frame, with Mars very close to it (slight red color) – Jupiter above
2015 Feb 20 – venus, mars and the moon
On Friday night, Venus, the waxing crescent Moon and Mars came together in a beautiful alignment. The norCal skies allowed unobstructed viewing with 60 degree evening temps and no wind. Mars appears very faint in between Venus and the Moon, but during early twilight it was difficult to see Mars. The purple sky was a striking backdrop. The three were all within 2 degrees of each other – the next night, Venus and Mars were even closer together and in conjunction (less than 1/2 a degree apart).
One of the last shots of the evening, the haze of some fog / cloud cover was encroaching and added an even more surreal effect …
MISSED SHOT OF THE EVENING … great-horned owl with backdrop of celestial alignment. Ack!!! I couldn’t get my tripod set up in time!! It’s an image that remains very clear in my mind though. This was the best I got before the owl flew off, just before my tripod was set and camera settings dialed in …
owl, venus, mars and moon
a moon and two planets
the night sky after dusk on this hot day revealed our Earth’s Moon waxing at first quarter, with Saturn and Mars to the lower right of it. the constellation of Scorpio is just under the Moon, with the “left arm” of the scorpion reaching up to the moon, and Antares, the bright red star in that constellation, shining brightly to the lower left of the Moon.
Antares is a supergiant star, and said to be 883 times the radius of our sun!
feralzach 