On September 19, 2025, a rare celestial event unfolded in the pre-dawn skies over Maryland: the conjunction of the Moon, Venus, and Regulus. I had high anticipation for this conjunction for several reasons. First, the tight grouping of the three celestial bodies was remarkable. Venus, the waning crescent Moon, and Regulus (Leo the Lion’s lucida) were packed within a 1-degree field of view. This meant that they were close enough to fit under a fingertip held at arm’s length, or easily with my telephoto lens racked out to 300mm.
So often the word “rare” is thrown about with abandon in
regard to astronomical events. But this one does merit the appellation. A
similarly tight grouping won’t occur again until September 22, 2041, when the
trio will fit within a 7.2° circle. My research could not find any evidence of
another triple conjunction from Maryland that will fit within a 1.0° field of
view for at least the next 50 years.
Preparation
A few days out, the weather forecast looked very favorable
for the morning of September 19th, so I set about planning for it. I
jumped on the Heavens-Above website and used their interactive sky chart and
twilight times to get a preview. Those tools let me know that the event would
be low on my eastern horizon, which was a problem due to the trees and houses
that blocked my eastern view from home.
I needed a better venue and thought that somewhere along
the nearby Loch Raven Reservoir might offer a clearer eastern horizon. I ruled out
any trails as it could be risky navigating an unfamiliar path in the dark while
carrying my camera equipment. Exploring virtually with Google maps, I noticed
several small “observation decks” along the eastern side of the Dulaney Valley
road bridge that crosses the reservoir. By midweek I had a game plan: park my
car off on the shoulder near the bridge and walk a quarter mile to the
platform.
The day before the conjunction, I weighed doing a
reconnaissance of the bridge, anticipating that I would swing by right after
work around 3:30 p.m. However, fate had other plans. Around 10 a.m., I received news that I was
being laid off as part of budget cuts and had to hand in my laptop by 2 p.m. Given
that 2026 was going to be my last year of part-time work as an OCR software
developer, the layoff was not a significant impact, although there was the
emotional aspect of no longer being employed after over half a century of work.
The immediate upside was that it gave me an early departure time to head out
to the reservoir. My drive out to the bridge validated my plans to park the car
just before the bridge and walk out to the first fishing platform.
The Conjunction
I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m. Thursday evening, but I was up
before the alarm went off. I dressed quickly and hustled out the door with my
camera. I was at the pull-off area south of the bridge within a few minutes,
parking the car and gathering my equipment. As I used my cell phone’s torch to
light the path out to the platform, I pushed away the slight anxiety that
creeps in, that sense of caution mixed with danger when doing something like
this.
As I rounded the corner and stepped onto the bridge I saw my prize: an
ocher-colored Moon rising, with Venus hanging just below it, both attenuated by
the atmosphere. Regulus was not visible at that point, either hiding behind the
trees or extinguished by the horizon haze. I was a bit surprised to see the Moon
was in front of me rather than to my right over the water. As I advanced
towards the bridge, the tree line slowly loomed taller and taller. By the time
I was at the platform, the Moon and Venus were just skirting the treetops on
the opposite shore. While not the imagined view of Moon rising over the waters
of the reservoir, the setting was certainly beautiful.
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| The Crescent Moon & Venus |
I set up the camera and bracketed a few shots of the slender orange crescent juxtaposed with a cream-colored Venus dangling below it. Time passed quickly, and as the duo climbed out of the haze, I could soon see Regulus hanging below Venus, forming a remarkable straight line. The earthshine was now evident, adding to the sublime nature of the appulse. For the next 45 minutes, I captured images at various focal lengths and exposures. Even at the full 300mm of the telephoto lens, all three members of the conjunction were in the frame due to the tightness of the conjunction. I knew the more challenging aspect in replicating with the camera what my eyes were witnessing would be the brightness contrast of these three. Venus outshone Regulus by about 100 times, while the Moon was just 5–6% illuminated, creating a dramatic visual contrast that our logarithmic eyes can handle well but pixels struggle to faithfully reproduce. Some things are just seemingly made for naked eye observation.
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| Moon, Venus, Regulus (and earthshine) |
I had to contend with the southbound traffic coming from Jarrettsville Pike, timing my shots to miss their oncoming headlights intruding into my frame, even with the lens hood attached. I also noted that at times when some vehicles passed by on the bridge, there was some vibration, which likely ruined some shots. After about an hour and with dawn beginning to lighten the horizon, I packed up the camera and began the trip back home.
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| Conjunction reflected in the water below |
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| The conjunction from my backyard |
