The Moon, Pleiades and Venus Conjunction, 17th April 2010

[iceman]

On the night of the 17th April, a beautiful conjunction between the Crescent Moon, the Pleiades (M45) and Venus took place in the Western twilight sky. I was at the Mudgee Star Party (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/tag/mudgee-star-party) at the time, which had a lovely unobstructed view to the West.

These images were captured with my Canon 40D sitting on a tripod. I also took some prime focus images of just the Moon and the Pleiades (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2010/05/04/the-moon-and-the-pleiades-m45) through the ED80.

It was a stunning scene, and everyone at the star party was mesmerised by the view, taking it in with camera, binoculars and telescopes.

There’s a number of different views of the conjunction in this post. You can check out large versions on my blog (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2010/05/05/venus-moon-and-pleiades-conjunction).

Thanks for looking.

[RB]

Oh man, these are surreal !
Love the saturated colours and lovely detail you're capturing with the 40D mate.

Excellent work !

[Troy]

Really nice pictures Mike :thumbsup:

[mbaddah]

Absolutely stunning photos Mike!

If you don't mind me asking where was the location you took the photos from?

[StephenM]

Fabulous images Mike!!! I really love the first two. Excellent stuff.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Liz]

Great images Mike, love 1, 2 and 5. :thumbsup:

[lacad01]

Lovely shots Mike, all great :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[alexch]

Great images, Mike! Thanks for sharing.

[bloodhound31]

I love the first and the last Mike. You have quite an eye there mate and I think you should develop your daytime photography. If your determination for perfection on your planetary images is anything to go by, you will kick butt!

Baz.

[Doodles23]

Mike, that is a stunning picture to be proud of. I am ridiculously jealous, of course, of the observing site. The best we have to offer in South Florida is a remote canal in the Everglades complete with alligators and pythons.

[iceman]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments.

It was certainly a nice weekend and a great feeling to be able to do some photography again.


They were taken at the Mudgee Star Party, at the Mudgee Observatory.



Thanks Baz - I'd love to do more daytime photography but I just lack the time at the moment.


Thanks Dave. The site was fabulous. It's about 4 hours drive from my house though so not exactly in my backyard.

Cheers and thanks again.

[Matt Wastell]

Godd work Mike - really stunning images!