A Celestial Pairing

The media was abuzz the last week with the close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the western sky. It really was eye-catching, the two brightest planets coming so close together. Of course the media in its subtle secular way promoted this as a recreation of the Star of Bethlehem. But let's not digress...

The closest approach was on Tuesday evening. The mid-Atlantic has had a very rainy June - wettest month of June on record as a matter of fact. So the pattern has been clouds and more clouds, making for scant opportunity to follow the two planets drawing closer and closer. On Tuesday the skies to the west were pretty hazy, and the planetary pair were just able to pierce the shroud to be captured. At least I could say I saw it!

Venus (lower) and Jupiter June 30th

The next night was a bit better - not a wonderfully transparent sky but certainly clearer than a normal evening we've had lately. I got the camera onto the tripod and headed outside. The pair had grown perceptibly apart and had shifted into a side-by-side alignment, but still close to one another. I took my first dozen shots (that is so nice about a digital camera, immediate feedback and no worries about a cost associated with each camera click) when suddenly it stopped working! I quickly saw the issue - no space left on the card. Quick dash inside to load a new card and I was back in action.

Over the period of about 40 minutes I grabbed about 50 shots. One somewhat frustrating thing was that the part of the sky where they glistened must be a flight path - I had more than one shot polluted by a plane intruding into it - but nothing a little digital slight of hand won't be able to erase since the exposures were pretty short. Below is the shot that for me will go into the scrapbook when I want to remember this appulse. (Click for full view)

Venus and Jupiter July 1, 2015 10pm
Canon Ti3 18mm f/3.5 4 sec exposure