Thursday, December 11, 2008

Another Moon, Jupiter ,Venus Conjunction Image And The Moon, Pleiades Meet


It's like when your Uncle Fred from out of town comes in to town a week after Christmas with your Christmas present, for just a little while it's Christmas again. That's how I felt when Daniel sent me the above Lunar, Venus, Jupiter conjunction image, very cool, keep the feeling alive.

Great image Daniel!! A pair of Hanna Montana/Miley Cyrus 3D glasses are on their way out to you.



While we are on the topic of conjunctions, like when aren't we, there was a Lunar, Pleiades one last night. Totally cloudy here so I didn't think I would be able to see it. The cat was barking for a bedtime snack around 9:30pm like she always does, so I headed to her food dish, and happened to look out the basement window and low and behold I noticed a break in the clouds, got me all excited, got my stuff together and went outside to watch and get the above and below images. Both images were blended in Photoshop, the Pleiades at 2 sec exposure, the Moon at 1/800 sec exposure. The clearing only lasted a few minutes so I didn't get the Moon in occultation with the Pleiades, that is when it covers some of the Pleiade's stars, which happened quite a few hours later behind the stupid clouds, but I was still able to view and image them together, still pretty.



If you are looking for another pretty view, check out the Full Moon rise this Friday evening, this Full Moon is special. The Moon does an elliptical orbit around us and it will be in it's perigee stage, closest to us, the year's biggest Moon, 14% bigger then when it is apogee, furthest from us. But here is the kicker, it will be 30% brighter, which sucks if you're going to be watching for meteors during the Geminid shower this weekend.



Thought I would post a cool animation of a Coronal Mass Ejection, (CME), that occurred December 8, a few days ago, it was huge, look at it, looks to be around 100 Earth diameters. Apparently it blasted out towards Saturn, looks like our Sun is starting to get a little more active.

Halo watch, with the arrival of colder temperatures be on the look out for Solar and Lunar halos. When ever you get a combination of cold temps and the high, thin, wispy cirrus clouds you may be lucky to catch halos and dogs. I'll leave you now with an animation of a Solar halo I took a couple days ago, they come and go very fast, this one broke up due to lack of cirrus clouds after only 15 minutes.

Solar Halo

49 comments:

Swubird said...

Bob:

Only you would run outdoors in the freezing cold on the slight chance of catching a picture of a Moon/Pleiades conjunction. Well done. Loved the shots.

That is also a great animation of the solar mass ejection. Mean stuff.

As always, a cool GIF. I'll be watching for the bright full moon tomorrow night.

Happy trails.

Genie said...

WOW! Those Pleiades/Moon shots are stunning! Especially the second one. Love it!

I've never seen a sun dog or sun halo and I've never tried to shoot the halo around the moon but my camera MIGHT just be able to do that. So now I have a new space goal! Dogs and halos!

Watched the dvd the very night it arrived and it choked me up several times. Such an amazing time in our history. Dad loaned us "John Adams" and in return I'm loaning him "In The Shadow of the Moon." He's going to love it!

MYM said...

We should all chip in and get you some extra warm long undies or something! lol

That first photo is kewl!

EspressoHead said...

Hey Bob, just wondering: As noted in your previous post, I commented that 24 hours after I sighted this wonderful meeting, the phase of the moon created a sad face. Is this because I’m in Australia? What were the phases like in Canada?
=)
P.s. I’m presuming Canada because of the location noted on your profile ^_^

Anonymous said...

aw.. i wasn't able to witness it.. =/

Anonymous said...

Very nice shot there!
For the past few nights I've been looking up at the sky too..
Actually just to take a few shots of the moon again.. It was still very cloudy as it's the rainy season over here now.

The clouds did clear up for a little while now and then but unfortunately, I didn't see any Pleiades.. Maybe I'll try to see again tonight..

I didn't know something special is happening in the sky now.. Thanks for the heads up again! ;)

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, for sure swubird, love those Lunar Pleiades conjunctions, no matter the temp. Good luck with the weather with the Full Moon, should be a big one.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Genie, hey I just got a cool Lunar halo, you should be able to catch one of those depending on it's brightness, if it's cold and you have wispy clouds, you might just get lucky.\m/\m/

Glad you liked the DVD, it was awesome, like you said it was a great time in our history, when we spent money on stuff that benefited all humankind instead of killing it.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

That would be great Drowsey Monkey, actually I am seriously thinking of getting a pair,lol.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

A bunch of interesting information as always, Bob! We have had lots of clear skies this week and I have been looking up a lot early in the morning when I head out and it is still dark.

We have the first real rain and snow predicted for tomorrow and Saturday. And of course I have to drive 10 hours tomorrow!

We see the halo around the moon a lot here in the winter. Not so much in the summer for some reason.

Bob Johnson said...

Hi EspressoHead, in the Southern hemisphere, you are right, the Moon waxes, or gets brighter opposite to the Northern Hemisphere.

In the Northern Hemisphere the Moon waxes or goes from a new Moon to a full Moon from right to left, in other words the smiley face, the Southern Hemisphere the Moon waxes from the left to right looking like a not smiley face.\m/\m/

Hope this makes sense.

Bob Johnson said...

That is way too bad schizoshrink, maybe you'll get to see the next conjunction, Jupiter, Mercury and the small crescent Moon December 28/29 low in the west just after Sunset.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Cashmere, the Pleiades were very hard to see with the almost Full Moon, good luck tonight.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Will, we don't get a lot of halos here, right now is prime time, we have had colder temps, which helps with the cirrus clouds, giving them even more ice crystals then they already have, which gives more of a chance in forming the halos, Moonlight reflecting and refracting off of them, the ice crystals, to produce the halos. I was really lucky to night, a beautiful 22 degree, the large one, formed for me to view and image.\m/\m/

Ruth said...

The lunar haloes have been amazing here the last two nights. So many colors! I keep thinking I should photograph them, but I still haven't tried with the Nikon.

We will watch for the perigee full cold moon tonight, thank you for that heads up. It really is amazing how bright it's been! Now I know why, thanks to you. :)

Bob Johnson said...

Ruth take the pic, I will post it, I don't think you have a pair of 3D glasses yet, you want a pair don't you? lol.\m/\m/

Majase Cyc said...

Hey Bob!

Great post as always. After reading one of the comments, I realized I have a couple photos of a sundog my ownself from last year.

While I don't have the capabilities of night photography etc., I was wondering if you post daytime phenomena such as these?

If so, do I just email it to you or what? You can look at them and see what you think. They are nothing that spectacular, but interesting.

Thanks,
Majase Cyc

Bob Johnson said...

Wow, great Majase Cyc, send it to me for sure, I will post it.\m/\m/

Ruth said...

Hehehe, yes yes I want a pair! I just want the photo to be worthy. :D

S-V-H said...

Hi Bob,

I love the first two pictures very much. Actually I love them all. :)

We are busy now pretty much in the coming days with our upcoming travel plans, so sorry that I was not visiting so often and maybe not will be in the future.

Sue's Daily Photography

myonlyphoto said...

Oh Bob all these goodies in the sky and it is going to snow! I think I saw conjunction myself, tried to photograph, no luck, it was cold and since I don't get out that much in the cold this year, its cold then, lol....I love your gif image, this one is stunning!

I am going to read your other posts, but by any chance do you have a chunk of meteor rock beside your digital picture frame, lol. I saw some cool videos of one arriving Earth, I think it was somewhere near you....

Anna :)

Bob Johnson said...

Hey Ruth It will be worthy, no worries.:)

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Anna, it is going to be crazy cold here tomorrow and the next few days, and lots of clouds.

Lol, not the one that just fell, but my others aren't far away from the TV. The meteor fell 250 miles from here, I will be on the spring search team, too much snow has fallen now.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks and no problem Susanne, just take lots of pics for us.\m/\m/

Sherer said...

Bob,


Its Christmas everytime I come to your site. I tell you I think I may have a crush on the pleiades as odd as that sounds. Another great post thank you sir.

Any tips on finding deep sky objects when you cant actually see it or even where it should be - i tell you i spend hours of frustration.

Jesse

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, thanks Jesse.

The best thing I ever did was purchase the straight through no magnification Telrad finder,

http://www.astronomics.com/main/Telrad_illuminated_nonmagnifying_Telrad_finder_includes_batt.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/2DNUFM33CE2S9KTPBVGJN12PF1/product_id/3990


It makes finding things very easy through starhopping, especially when you have charts for it,link below, as long as you can see some nearby stars, and you usually can should be no problem. It is how I found all the hard to see Messiers for my Messier Certificate. The other option , get a computerized scope,lol.

http://www.utahskies.org/deepsky/messier/charts/messierTelradFrameSet.html

Nature Nut /JJ Loch said...

Bob, WOW!!! what a post. The conjunction photos have been AWESOME!!!

OOOH, I want to catch a halo shot!!! I love those. :D We have complete snow cloud cover. Ugh.

Super post and photos!!! and you know how to keep us looking up. :D

Hugs, JJ

Don said...

In exchange for NOT seeing the perigee full moon, we got some gigantic snowflakes.

Snowing in Michigan, raining on the big three...

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot JJ, it is cloudy and snowing here too, you keep looking up JJ, when it's cold and the wispy cirrus clouds are around, you may just get lucky, I recommend carrying your camera with you all the time,lol\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol Don, no luck here tonight as well, no big Moon, just big clouds.\m/\m/

Genie said...

Woot, I got the perigee and a lunar halo! Thanks so much, I'd never have known about the first without your blog and it wouldn't have occurred to me to try and shoot the second if you hadn't mentioned it!

Fantastic evening, although I'm bummed that you had clouds.

Bob Johnson said...

Wow Genie awesome job in capturing the Moon at perigee, The Lunar halo and a doe. I have downloaded a few pics for my next post, hope you don't mind.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

I heard about the moon, being really big on the news but I didn't get to see it because I am sick in bed. That's why I am online right now otherwise I would be at work.

Your pictures made my day! They are amazing as usual. I came to your site to cheer me up, I am feeling sorry for myself because I hate being sick.

Thank you for sharing this, I needed it allot.

Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby

Bob Johnson said...

Too bad AngelBaby, get well soon but I am glad you dropped by and that these pictures made your day.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

Sad, I am reading this post on Sunday lazy afternoon. This friday we had a moon festival in Mumbai. Will wait for pics on 'biggest moon' :)

Anonymous said...

I really lke the iwater effect in the last image. It is sooo charming!

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Priyank, as you were reading this post I was outside watching , in -34 degree weather the Geminid meteor shower, now that is cold,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks roentarre,\m/\m/ that was another one of our very cold days, lots of ice crystals in the sky.

Sherer said...

Ah thanks for the tip Bob, i'll have to get one of those. I would spring for the scope, but I still want to find um myself its like a challenge.

Jesse

Bob Johnson said...

That is the way to go Jesse, get familiar with the sky first then treat yourself. I still like finding them once in a while by myself, but it's also nice to view 100 deep sky objects in a night instead of plugging away for 20 or so.\m/\m/

RW said...

Caught without a camera again sigh, there was a huge moon dog Friday right overhead. Have a good'en Bob!

Anil Kumar said...

Wow!!shots are amazing keep going...even dis is good pls visit
anibear.blogspot.com

Max Coutinho said...

Hey Bob!

Congratulations, Daniel: your image is indeed a beauty! *clap clap clap*

Great shots of the Lunar, Pleiades conjunction, Lord of the Astropics!! Now, I read that you were on your way to give your cat her bedtime snack...did you drop everything (i.e. you didn't feed her) and ran outside to take the shot? Poor thing...
The Pleiades stars seem to almost form a triangle...beautiful!

Wow...that coronal mass ejection animation is quite something! The things I am learning here...so, this mass is coming from the sun?

I also loved this solar halo, Bob...you are definitely becoming an artist :D!

I wish you a great week ahead, buddy!

Cheers

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks and too bad Roger, I know how you feel, missed many a good shots by not having my camera by my side.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Anil Kumar, like your site too, thanks for dropping by.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks max, the cat food actually ended up in her water dish,lol, she was not happy, went back in after to give her some food, and clean out her water dish,lol.\m/\m/

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