The late hours of Monday night (24.08.09) brought an opportunity to take in a quick observation of Jupiter with the 25×100 binoculars. Initially I could only discern three of the Galilean moons, but further investigation revealed the fourth elusive satellite — Io — hugging close by Europa. Upon checking ‘The Night Sky’ section in my August edition of Astronomy Now I realised that I was witnessing a burgeoning occultation as Io converged upon Europa. Unfortunately I was unable to watch this entire Jovian event unfold, but it was fascinating to see the wafer-thin gap between the shimmering moons slowly disappear as they drifted towards their celestial rendezvous.
Posts Tagged ‘Occultation’
Dec
07
2008
Bittersweet Reminder
The Lunar occultation of Venus on December 1st was a truly spellbinding moment and one that will stay with me for a long time to come. Turning my camera to the sky the following evening I have to say that I felt just a little sorry it was all over. In spite of this I was delighted with the following shot that I took of Jupiter, Venus and the waxing crescent Moon.
With the black and white points adjusted the image was then slightly cropped and processed using a soft light blending mode to mildly increase the contrast. While I’m more than happy with the final result, it’s also a bittersweet reminder of the wonderful spectacle that I observeed during the course of the previous evening.
Dec
02
2008
Astral Trio
Since the return of Venus to the evening sky I had been waiting with anticipation for the lunar occultation of this dazzling planet. I spent most of the weekend wondering if my hopes were going to be dashed by the atypical British weather that has been plaguing amateur astronomers and astrophotographers here for months. Imagine how surprised I was on Monday morning to find the sun shining and a gorgeous, crisp, clear sky. I have to say that I spent most of the day like a cat on hot bricks - jumping up and gazing out of the window to make sure the blue sky hadn’t been swept away by a large swathe of ashen cloud.
From between 16:00 UT and 16:30 UT I began to see the silver crescent of the moon and the faint light of Jupiter piercing the pale blue sky. As the sun slowly disappeared, thin wisps of cloud began to move in from the north west. Speaking for myself I think they add a certain atmosphere to lunar photographs, but then I suppose it depends on your own aesthetic taste. From here on in, the view just got better and at 17:11 UT Venus slowly re-appeared from behind the limb of the moon - a truly thrilling moment!
The final shots that I took could probably have been exposed better but after some post processing and noise reduction in Photoshop they turned out not all that bad. I suppose that’s the thing with any kind of photography, it can sometimes be a hit or a miss no matter how much pre planning you do. Putting my photographic problems aside, I’m so glad that I was able to witness this rare and stunning planetary conjunction first hand. Perhaps it is a sign that the dreary British weather is finally turning? We can live in hope!