On Monday evening, the three tenors of the night sky will reunite, an event that may not be seen again for another 40 years. A crescent moon will join Venus and Jupiter, which have been slowly moving closer to each other, creating a triumvirate of the three brightest objects in the heavens. The planets will not be as close, or as visible again, until 2052.
Patti Winsa - Staff Reporter,
So, this is something a bit unusual and will not be seen again for quite a few years. (imagine! I'll be 86 when it happens again! eeek!) I went out after work with my trusty camera when the sun was beginning to set and started trying to get famous photos to record the event...
there are the two planets, if you look real hard!
...they form a triangle with the moon on the left, Venus on the bottom, and Jupiter up a bit to the right from Venus...
...and the next three shots I just had to include to demonstrate my amazingly steady hand (and no tripod!) with a long exposure!! (Ha!)
I thought this was a lovely moon shot...
...and in this one, you can see the outline of the entire sphere of the moon...
Below you can see the detail of how they all line up:
Ok... here was the very best shot I could get (with my 12x zoom, nonetheless!). Ah, what I would give tonight for a telescope!!
Well, I'm sure I didn't capture any shot to make me famous and rich, but I thought I would share them with you anyway. I love these fantastic night sky treats! Perhaps, if you go out just after sunset tomorrow night, you may be able to see it, too. God makes such wonderful things for us to enjoy if we will take the time... to stop for a moment or two and look up at the sky!!
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? ~Psalm 8:3-4
Don't you love looking at the stars? I saw that the other night, too. And like you, I thought one of them had to be Venus. But I couldn't figure out what the other one was. Thanks for clearing that up for me!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of hard work!
ReplyDeleteWe absolutely have no info about the lineup, but I reckon it'll be too cold for star watching outside. Good job you've done!
Don't you just love star watching. =)
billy and stardust- i do so love looking at the stars! they remind me of how infitessimally (is that even a word?!?) big God is and how microscopically small am i! at to think He has a name for each and every one of them! amazing!
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