Solar X-rays: Geomagnetic Field: |
Current Moon Phase |
Even the city that never sleeps had to give pause to the striking beauty of the sunset enhanced by Venus and the moon on the evening of November 1. Canon 40D image, 20mm, F/4.5, 1/4-sec, handheld at the top of the RCA building in New York City, Gary A. Becker... |
Gary A. Becker image on top of the RCA building in New York City... |
The Spitzer Space Telescope which sees the universe in the infrared, captured the meteoroid dust blanket ejected by Comet Encke as the diffuse diagonal from the upper left to the lower right section of this photo. The two smaller jets of debris nearer to the comet are the most recently ejected particles from Encke. The comet has long exhausted its supply of fine dust and is currently releasing particles with sizes of about one millimeter. They produce the bright meteors associated with the Taurid stream in early November of each year. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Kelley (Univ. of Minnesota)... |
Crab Nebula: On the morning of July 5, 1054 AD, Native American shamans woke up to greet the sun and were amazed to see a new star shining about 10 times brighter than the planet Venus. A thin waning crescent moon was just to the left. The star, now known as a supernova, was visible in sunlight for eight days according to Chinese records. A massive, old star detonated in our Milky Way Galaxy, 6,300 light years distant, and its light traveled for 6,300 years before it was seen by humans on that summer’s dawn. Today, the supernova remnant known as M1, or the Crab Nebula, has a diameter of 11 light years, and it is expanding at a rate of over 930 miles per second. Supernovae are by far the most violent events that occur in our universe today, and if one happened close enough to the Earth, let’s say 50-100 light years away, it would be curtains for us all. Photo credit: Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)... |
Venus and Jupiter on Fire: You could feel the excitement building as Venus approached Jupiter to within nine degrees on the crisp East Coast evening of November 22. The planets will be only separated by two degrees with an earthshine lit, waxing crescent moon on December 1. A 35 second unguided image was snapped after a 30 second guided photo of the same scene. The sharp horizon of the unguided picture was blended into the guided photo. A Borg-Hutech light suppression filter successfully dampened the effects of light pollution in the sky while still leaving the woods burn on the horizon. A Canon 40D camera was mated with a Nikkor 24-120mm zoom lens and imaged at an EFL of 60mm at ASA 400. Photography by Gary A. Becker near Coopersburg, PA... |
”Niagara Falls... Slowly I turned and step by step, inch by inch,” Venus and Jupiter approached. A mostly cloudy day (November 25) turned into a pleasant sunset and a beautiful twilight with Venus and Jupiter dominate in the southwest. A 65 second unguided photo was imaged after a 60 second guided photo of the same scene was taken. The sharp horizon of the unguided picture was blended into the guided photo. A Borg-Hutech light suppression filter dampened the effects of light pollution in the sky. A Canon 40D camera was mated with a Nikkor 24-120mm zoom lens and imaged at an EFL of 56mm at ASA 400. Photography by Gary A. Becker near Coopersburg, PA... |
Locally the weather looks doubtful for the Moon-Venus-Jupiter conjunction on December 1 A wintry mix is in the forecast. Recently the days have been mostly cloudy with a brief spot of clearing around sundown. Hopefully that trend will continue. A 30 second unguided image was snapped after a 30 second guided photo of the same scene on November 28 and the two images blended to create a sharp horizon. A Borg-Hutech light suppression filter helped with the copious amounts of light pollution present. A Canon 40D camera was mated with a Nikkor 24-120mm zoom lens and imaged at an EFL of 56mm at ASA 400. Photography by Gary A. Becker near Coopersburg, PA... |
I have chased eclipses, but never a conjunction. This was worth it, a great December 1 start to the Holiday Season. A cold front swept through 90 minutes earlier, but clearing was spotty. Eventually a hole in the clouds was found in Orefield, PA. The moon has a heavy dose of earthshine. Venus is below and Jupiter to the right. The stars very near Jupiter are two of its four Galilean satellites. A Canon 40D camera was mated with a Canon 70-200mm lens and imaged at an EFL of 216mm for 10 seconds, F/4.5, at ASA 400. A Borg-Hutech light suppression filter was also used. Photography by Gary A. Becker near Orefield, PA... |
Here is yet another view of the spectacular triple conjunction of December 1 showing the moon, Venus (below), and Jupiter (note the two Galilean satellites). This time clouds added character to the picture, but several hours earlier it had been raining heavily. A Canon 40D camera was mated with a Canon 70-200mm lens and imaged at an EFL of 112mm for 4 seconds, F/4.5, at ASA 400. The camera/lens was on an equatorial mount. The original image was cropped. Photography by Gary A. Becker near Orefield, PA... |