I got some snaps of this with my A610 Cannon, experimented with many settings on my camera, to capture the earth shine effect. Intialy it was very difficult to spot, had to scan with my 10x50 binos for sometime before i saw it. Even then my wife could not see it when i pointed it out to her. It took some time for her to see it. Once i saw it with the binos i could use by bearings to find it again with the naked eye.
Nice to see you caught Mercury in your shots as well Fahim. It's a bit of a thrill catching Mercury, unless you plan for it and go hunting, you're very lucky. There are many people with telescopes who never see it, let alone image it.
Doh Oh my god i am so daft, i picked up Mercury right there this shot was taken 18:35 on 24th so thats Spica and Mercury, I just thought it was another star.
And I wonder what it was i saw on Sunday setting so quickly after the Sun maybe it was Mars.
Here are the setting times for Mercury, Mars, Spica and the Moon for Sunday for SE Qld EST
Spica set: 19:29
Mercury set: 19:00
Mars set : 18:25
Moon set: 18:54
But on Saturday i think Mars set first relatively clost to Sunset time. So it would have been the only brigh object within 10-15 degrees of the horizon. But then again what i saw was not red? It was bright through thre 10x50's. Maybe it was a plane.
On Saturday, Mars was around 9 deg above the horizon and Merury was around 15 deg. It would have been pretty difficult to see Mars at the moment against the glare of sunset. Not impossible thought
I'm intrigued. I'll have a good view of the Western horizon tomorrow night at sunset so I'll have a scan with the binocs. Mars will be about 7 deg above the horizon by then. It will be a real challenge.
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