Sunday, March 11, 2012

Aligning of the Planets ... and Nature

Have you noticed the two bright objects in the Western sky after sunset ? They are Venus (brightest) and Jupiter, who are heading for a 'conjunction' (close passage) in the next few days. Venus is moving West-to-East and Jupiter is moving East-to-West.   This 'conjunction' will not happen again for many years, so take a few minutes to go outside and enjoy this rare event.

Taking pictures of Deep Space Objects can be challenging, fun and rewarding, especially when hours of imaging produces a frame-worthy photo.  However, taking photographs of stars, or planets (in this case) can produce a 'boring' picture, filled with black sky and a few points of light, unless you tap into your inner-creativity to make them more exciting. 

I set out this evening (03/10/2012) to take a few pictures of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction in a natural setting.  What I got was an even more rare event than I was expecting.  While photographing the planetary alignment, other forces of nature also lined up to make for an interesting photo.  As Veuns and Jupiter emerged from dusk's fading light, I was treated to a colorful sunset that reflected off the water and the silhouette of curious Swan that slowly swam toward me. 



Until next time ...