Moon-Jupiter Conjunction + Perseid Meteor Shower (11th/12th Aug 2012)
Just a heads up for tonight (Sat 11 Aug 2012 - Sun 12 Aug):
* Moon-Jupiter conjunction with a separation of ~ 1 degree. I think this may be close enough to capture Jupiter's major cloud bands with the entire moon in a single (non-composite) DSLR shot?
* Perseid Meteor Shower peaks. It's very low in the sky (altitude of 5 degrees for Brisbane) so it'll be a tough one to capture.
This was beautiful!! Thanks Dave. Hadnt planned on going out, as got home at midnight after a group viewing with the scope, but was wide awake. Left it late and by the time I got rugged up (<7 dg out there .... yes, this is North Qld) and camera organised, it was about 0520, so only had 30 min before it got too light,
But, wow, a gorgeous sight. Jupiter was just atop a crescent Moon, with Pleiades, Venus close by.
I had crawled out to see some meteors, though this is a Northern Hemisphere shower, but was VERY happy to see 3 bright and slow Perseids. I was happy with that!! About to trawl through some images to see what I got,if anything.
What a truly an amazing night of celestial events and I was lucky enough to have perfect weather conditions for the whole night. I started out photographing the central bulge of the Milky Way overhead with my 5D Mk II and appreciating the lovely sight of Saturn, Spica and Mars forming a triangle in the west. Witnessed probably the second or third best meteor strike I have ever seen. It traveled across about 70 degrees of the sky with numerous bright flashes but my camera was pointed the other way at the time so you will have to take my word for it.
I then setup my 60D on the back deck to shoot a timelapse pointing NE in the hope of catching a few Perseids, starting at about 11pm. Went to bed and then got up at about 5:30am to pack away the camera fully expecting it's single battery to have run out hours beforehand. But no, it was still happily clicking away with more than half it's battery life left. I'm impressed. I must make a note of which battery that one is, as the last time I did a really long run on a single battery (in warmer weather), the battery (I have five different ones) lasted about 3 and a half hours. I just checked all the images and there are a couple of frames I am excited about.
I actually didn't remember that the Moon-Jupiter conjunction was occurring this morning but when I noticed how close they were together as I was packing away the 60D, I quickly got out the telescope and snapped a few images with my 1000D. I have wanted to get the moon and a planet in a single telescope frame ever since I got a telescope. While I don't think I wasn't quick enough to get the closest approach, they where both still comfortably in frame on my 10inch F/4 Newt and Canon crop sensor camera.
I now have about 1000 images across three cameras to go through. What a night!
