Sunday, February 14, 2010

Tough Shoot

As an amateur astrophotographer, I'm always on the lookout for challenging astronomical events to photograph. Well - tonight, a gathering of Jupiter, Venus and the Moon (called a conjunction) was visible at sunset.

Below is the view through a 300mm lens. A tough shot to get - the moon was only 23 hours past new and only 3 degrees above the horizon. This image was obtain just 2 minutes before Venus set behind the distant Tucson Mountains.

1 comment:

Dean said...

Hi Dave-
Nice shot, and you are right, it was tough! We shot the exact same field, about 30 minutes later, but from murky sea level at Mission Beach, CA! I was not able to spot the moon or Venus at all, and only saw Jupiter a time or two. Fortunately a short exposure with camera and telephoto showed them all. Were all three visible in the clearer, higher skies of Tucson? Will blog our pics when we return home...
-Dean