Heads up - literally - on Feb.20

[pgriz]

No photo yet.

But, for those of you who enjoy shooting sunsets, moons and planets, the sunset of February 20 could be pretty special. See this link for the details: Venus and Mars Pair Tightly at Dusk - Sky Telescope

What should be really neat is the young moon next to those two planets. And they should all be low enough to capture some nice foreground scenery at the same time. We're doing a wedding rehearsal that day, so I can't shoot, but I thought I'd give the rest of you a heads-up - if you're interested.

 

[Designer]

Thanks, Paul. I seldom make the effort to get into the car and drive someplace where I can see the sky better, but this might be the time to do that.

 

[snerd]

Sounds cool.................. would regular landscape shooting work, or is this more of an astro-type shot?

 

[pgriz]

Sounds cool.................. would regular landscape shooting work, or is this more of an astro-type shot?

Should be a dusk/twilight type shot. According to Stellarium (Stellarium) and TPE (The Photographer s Ephemeris), the moon should be about 3.5% full, and around 20 degrees above the horizon about 30 minutes after sunset (at end of civil twilight). Attached is the screen-grab from Stellarium:

That's from my location. You will have a slightly different view and timing based on your location. But the neat thing is that we'll all be looking at a very young moon (just a sliver of a crescent), pointing to two planets that are very close to each other. Venus will be very bright, Mars much less so.

 

[pgriz]

Bumpity bump. For the afternoon crowd.

 

[spiralout462]

Thanks for the "heads up"! lol The youngins and I will check it out for sure.

 

[weepete]

Any idea if I'd see this in Scotland? Or will it be different

 

[JustJazzie]

How neat!! Not sure if I'll be willing to brave the cold, it's looking like 15° and snow that evening.

 

[pgriz]

Any idea if I'd see this in Scotland? Or will it be different

The timing may be somewhat different, but you should see the same overall configuration. If you download Stellarium (it's free, and the link is in post #4 above), you will be asked to indicate your location, and the planetarium software will then calculate what you should see at your latitude and longitude. Same for TPE.

 

[weepete]

Thanks mate, I'll have a gander then. It's always a bit of a gamble here with cloud cover common and unpredictable. Fingers crossed we'll get a clear sky then. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[annamaria]

That's pretty neat, I will have to brave the freezing temps if I go out. Thanks for the info.

 

[thereyougo!]

Here it is from South Wales about 15 minutes ago....

Pentax 645Z FA 400 f/5.6 uncropped.

The-Moon,-Mars-and-Venus by singingsnapper, on Flickr

 

[MikeFlorendo]

Nice it's low tide at dusk and if the clouds clear I have a date with an arch down on the coast. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[sneakypete]

I'm SO bummed. it was too cloudy around sunset. then after dinner I took a peek and saw it out! so I rushed all the way to end of the drive way (600ft). it was so cold. I was only able to get two shots off (neither of which are any good) before it ducked back behind clouds. I BLEW IT!

This was my first time taking a picture of the moon and literally could only take two shots. didnt even have time to trial and error.

NE Ohio 7:15pm
venus mars moon wide (1 of 1) by floppypickles, on Flickr

venus mars moon (1 of 1) by floppypickles, on Flickr

 

[sm4him]

Too much cloud cover here, no moon, planets or stars visible.