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

[iceman (Mike)]

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 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 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.

Thanks for looking.

[RB (Andrew)]

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

[mbaddah (Mo)]

Absolutely stunning photos Mike!

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

[StephenM (Stephen)]

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

Cheers,
Stephen

[Liz]

Great images Mike, love 1, 2 and 5.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Lovely shots Mike, all great

[alexch (Alex)]

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 (Dave Bleser)]

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 (Mike)]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments.

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

Originally Posted by mbaddah

Absolutely stunning photos Mike!

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

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

Originally Posted by 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.

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

Originally Posted by 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.

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 (Matt)]

Godd work Mike - really stunning images!