A Pre-dawn Planetary Appulse

The weather gods were kind and granted clear skies over Towson this morning, affording me an opportunity to grab a peek at the close pairing of Jupiter and Venus (at 5 a.m. ET this morning they were roughly a third of a degree apart, less than the appearance of a full moon). While not as rare as a Venus transit like we had in 2012, these two planetary beacons coming so close is not a common occurrence. And it is always eye-catching to say the least!

I decided to not set an alarm, trusting that I normally turn over an hour or so before sunrise anyway (perhaps a bit too trusting, but it panned out as expected). Grabbing the charged camera and tripod I headed out the front door around 5:30 to look for our duo. Unfortunately the eastern skyline in front of my home is not a great spot for horizon hugging events. So into the car with hopes of quickly locating a suitable venue with perhaps an interesting backdrop for a few shots. As I started up the hill I was continually making furtive glances to the east, and then I caught sight of them at the tree line as I passed the Towson Presbyterian Home. I circled the block and hopped out to see if I could compose a nice shot, opting for one with them nestled amid a dip in the treeline.

The first exposure at about 15 seconds was way too bright (the 'instant feedback' of a digital camera is really nice for catching such a problem quickly), so I shortened the exposure until I could see the two dots on the LCD screen. Bracketing around that ~2 second exposure at ASA 800 I collected several shots. With those secured I ambled about the front lawn in search for another interesting composition. I made two more series of photos for the raising pair, but the increasingly bright sky as dawn inexorably proceeded meant my first shots were probably the best. By 6 a.m. it was all over, barely ten minutes of snapping photos.

The best of the shots is above - played with it a bit in Paintshop to darken the sky and boost the contrast. May post some more after I have a chance to play with the images