Moon, Jupiter, Mars, Antares and Brisbane City lights

[Dennis]

Hi

Having been somewhat starved of photons and photo opportunities since Oct 2006, when my wife announced broken cloud around 3:00am, we decided to jump in the car and head for a Brisbane beauty spot, the Mt Coot-tha lookout, some 7 kms W of the CBD.

We were almost drenched by a City Council truck that was watering the gardens, the driver surprised to see anyone there at that godforsken hour.

Anyhow, the clouds more or less dispersed and we were granted a spectacular view of the pre-dawn skies. Pity my batteries died on the 5th image....and yes...I did not have any spares. Oh well, it was a wonderful sunrise to boot.

Pentax *ist DS Sigma 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens. FOV approx 60°x 38°

EXIF data:
Focal length: 22mm, Exposure: 20 secs, Aperture: F8, Speed setting: 400ASA
17 Jan 2007, 3:54am AEST (GMT+10)

Original 3008x2008 resampled to 1024x684 30% jpg compression.

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Wow that's beautiful, Dennis! A great way back into the dark!

[middy]

Wow Dennis that looks fantastic :eyepop:

If I'd known you were going to take that picture I would have left the porch light on that night. :lol:

[RB]

Oh that's awesome Dennis!
Fantastic composition.

Where's "Oceans 11" when you need them? :lol:

[Striker]

That looks awesome Dennis,

I can see my house in there...lol

[ving]

what a great shot!
love the lights from above and below :)

[ballaratdragons]

Stunning Dennis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eyepop: :thumbsup:

Now name all those funny looking stars at the bottom of the picture :lol:

[iceman]

ROFL Middy! :rofl:

[jjjnettie]

Lovely image Dennis.

[Dennis]

Thanks for those nice words everyone, it made the early morning dash worth it.

Middy – you slay me with your dry wit, but keep that porch light off eh!
Striker – I could just make out the lights of your marine fish tank!
Mike – thanks for pointing out this picture opportunity in your post from the previous day.

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

you and ice are so bloody good at these!

[Dennis]

Hi

Here are the 2 best efforts from this morning, with re-charged batteries! I arrived later than yesterday, at around 4:10am to find a bank of clouds shrouding the E. After setting up, some of the cloud dispersed and a thin crescent Moon appeared low down.

Now it never gets really cold in Brisbane, but when I returned to our car, I saw a Butcher Bird flattened against one of the (illuminated) car park security lights, presumably heating himself up?

Cheers

Dennis