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Venus & Jupiter
April 17, 2022

On April 17, 2022, the brilliant planet Venus (magnitude -4.2 in Aquarius) joined the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in a nearly-straight line low in the east before sunrise (6:19 am EDT) as observed from Swede Run in Moorestown, NJ. However, the row of planets was largely obscured by clouds, which frustratingly would dissipate by time the sky brightened too much to see them without difficulty. However, Venus and Jupiter did peek out separately through cloud gaps while I was there. This image of Venus was captured at 5:33 am EDT with a Canon EOS RP DSLM camera on a fixed tripod and a Canon 24 to 105 mm f/4L lens with a Hoya "Diffuser" filter. It was exposed 1.0 second at f/4.5, ISO 1600, auto white balance, adjusted slightly in Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4 and cropped to 88% of the original linear dimensions for a field 17.1° wide x 11.5° high. At the time, Venus was at 10.2° altitude, 19″ apparent diameter and 62% illuminated.

On April 17, 2022, the bright planet Jupiter (magnitude -2.1 in Pisces) joined Venus low in the east before sunrise (6:19 am EDT) as observed from Swede Run in Moorestown, NJ, appearing here through a cloud gap. This image of Jupiter was captured at 5:37 am EDT with a Canon EOS RP DSLM camera on a fixed tripod and a Canon 24 to 105 mm f/4L lens with a Hoya "Diffuser" filter. It was exposed 0.4 second at f/4.5, ISO 1600, auto white balance, adjusted slightly in Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4 and cropped to 71% of the original linear dimensions for a field 13.8° wide x 9.2° high. At the time, Jupiter was at 5.2° altitude and 34″ apparent equatorial diameter.

Venus, Saturn & Mars
April 4, 2022

On April 4, 2022, the brilliant planet Venus (in Aquarius) was flanked by the closely-paired planets Saturn and Mars (in Capricornus) before sunrise as observed from Swede Run in Moorestown, NJ. Saturn and Mars were just 0.54° apart (about a moon diameter) while Saturn was 6.5° west of Venus at the time of this picture. They were all easily visible to unaided eyes in the morning twilight (the sun would rise at 6:39 am EDT). At 6:00 am, Jupiter was spotted at 1.5° altitude, 23.5° east of Venus, then seen with unaided eyes a couple of minutes later. That was my first sighting of Jupiter since solar conjunction on March 5, 2022. Saturn and Mars will be in conjunction at 6 pm EDT on April 4. On the morning of April 5, Mars will be about a third of a degree southeast of Saturn vs. half a degree southwest on April 4. This image of the grouping was captured at 5:39 am EDT with a Canon EOS RP DSLM camera and a Canon 200 mm f/2.8L lens on a fixed tripod. It was exposed 1 second at f/3.5, ISO 3200, daylight white balance. It was adjusted slightly in Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4 and cropped to a 16:9 ratio for a field 10.2° wide x 5.7° high. At the time, Venus was at 9.0° altitude, Saturn 10.2° altitude. Mouseover for labels. April 7, 2022: Note the spelling of Deneb Algiedi, which includes an "i" before the "e." I copied that spelling from the SkySafari 7 chart. However, going to the information page, SS7 has "Deneb Algedi" (no extra "i") as a secondary spelling. Checking a number of other sources, it appears that "Algedi" is the more common spelling. If I was labeling this picture now (and previous pictures of this region), I would use Deneb Algedi.

This is the same original image as above, but cropped further to a field 4.9° wide x 4.0° high. Mouseover for labels.

Venus, Saturn, Mars and the Crescent Moon
March 28, 2022

On March 28, 2022, the waning Crescent Moon joined the planets Venus, Saturn and Mars in Capricornus before sunrise as observed from Swede Run in Moorestown, NJ, where the sun would rise at 6:50 am. On arrival at 5:35 am, bright Venus and the Moon were obvious with unaided eyes, but dimmer Saturn and Mars were easy to see too. All four of them fit in the 9.1° field of my 8x42 binoculars and they were still visible when I left at 6:15 am. The 17% illuminated, 25.7-day-old Moon was 3.8 days before new on April 1, 2022. This image of the grouping was captured at 5:52 am EDT with a Canon EOS RP DSLM camera and a Canon 100 mm f/2.8L macro lens on a fixed tripod. It was exposed 1/4 second at f/2.8, ISO 4000. It was lightly adjusted in Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4 and cropped to 77% of its original linear dimensions for a field 15.7° wide x 10.5° high. At the time, the Moon was at 4.6° altitude, 7.4° from Venus, which was at 10.3° altitude. Mouseover for labels. Here's a Greek alphabet for reference. Here's a larger version.

Young Moon
March 3, 2022

The young Crescent Moon was observed on March 3, 2022, from the baseball field complex in Maple Shade, NJ, shortly after sunset at 5:54 pm EST. It was initially spotted at 6:12 pm with 15x56 binoculars, then seen immediately afterwards with unaided eyes when it was 29 hr 37 min old, 1.8% illuminated, 8.8° altitude and 15.5° solar elongation. New Moon was March 2, 2022, at 12:35 pm EST. This image of the lunar crescent (with some earthshine visible) was captured at 6:29 pm EST when it was 29 hr 43 min old and 5.8° altitude. Taken with a Canon EOS RP DSLM camera and a Canon 400 mm f/5.6L telephoto lens on a fixed tripod. It was exposed 1/15 second at f/5.6, ISO 1600, using automatic white balance. It was lightly adjusted in Canon's Digital Photo Professional and cropped to 83% of its original linear dimensions for a field 4.3° wide x 2.9° high.

Omega Centauri
January 27, 2022

For my annual sighting of the great globular cluster Omega Centauri (ω Cen, NGC 5139) from New Jersey, I went to East Point along the north shore of the Delaware Bay on January 27, 2022, despite a 29% illuminated, waning crescent moon near the head of Scorpius. The weather was clear and cold, 18°F on the water's edge at East Point, but as low as 8°F in the forest north of Cumberland Pond on the way home. I initially spotted Omega with 15x56 binoculars at 4:18 am EST, then examined it with a 115 mm apo spotting scope at 30 to 70x. At the low altitude, no stars were resolved, even at 70x. It was not visible to unaided eyes. I went back to East Point on February 6, 2022, and with a very clear sky along the southern horizon and no moon, I was able to see all of my finder stars shown in the picture below with unaided eyes, but not Omega itself. However, it was easy in 15x56 binoculars, and with my 115 mm spotting scope at 70x, Omega looked granular rather than the usual plain haze. This image was captured on January 27 at 5:03 am EST, one minute after meridian transit when Omega was at 3.5° apparent altitude and 180.3° azimuth, using a Canon EOS RP DSLM camera and a Canon 200 mm f/2.8L telephoto lens on a fixed tripod. It was exposed 4 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 3200 and 3600K white balance. Virtually no processing was applied (a slight increase in contrast) and it's uncropped for a field 10.3° wide x 6.9° high. The darker band at the bottom is the Delaware Bay, the glow at the right edge of the sea horizon is from Lewes on the coast of Delaware. Mouseover for labels. While there, I also did a little casual observing with the 15x56s, spotting galaxies M51, M81+82, M65+66, M104, planetary nebula M57, and globular cluster M4 (weaker than ω Cen despite its greater altitude, about 13°, but closer to the moon). With the 115 mm  spotting scope, I detected comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) in Gemini, by then, low in the northwest. As I neared home around 7 am, I was looking out the car window for Venus above the treetops, but didn't spot it until I stopped at Swede Run in Moorestown, NJ. It was much higher than I expected, 17° at 7 am. Once I was looking in the right direction, Venus was bright and obvious in morning twilight, now 11% illuminated and brilliant at magnitude -4.6.

This is a separate image captured at 4:58 am EST on January 27, 2022, three minutes before meridian transit when Omega Centauri was at 3.5° apparent altitude and 179.4° azimuth, but this time, raising the view slightly to include the peculiar galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128), about 4.5° north of (above) ω Cen. It was taken with the same equipment as the previous picture, but exposed 4 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 4000 and 3600K white balance. Virtually no processing was applied (a slight increase in contrast and a little vignette brightening). The primary image is uncropped for a field 10.3° wide x 6.9° high, but on mouseover, the swap image has been cropped to 38% of the original linear dimensions for a field 4.0° wide x 2.6° high, providing a slightly better view of Centaurus A. The blue arrowed lines show the path I follow to find Omega. Starting at the triangle of magnitude 3.x Phi, Nu and Mu Centauri, I slide down to Upsilon 1 & 2 Centauri (nominally magnitude 4), then down to Zeta Centauri, and finally, right to Omega. At magnitude 2.5, Zeta is the brightest of the group, but atmospheric extinction at the very low altitude belies its brightness.

Venus is Bright Again
January 15, 2022

The planet Venus was captured from Wharton State Forest, NJ, on January 15, 2022, at 6:41 am EST, looking southeast in the direction of the coming sunrise (at 7:18 am). Taken with a Canon EOS RP DSLM (digital single lens mirrorless) camera and a Canon 400 mm, f/5.6L lens (on a fixed tripod), uncropped for a field 5.1° wide x 3.4° high. It's a single raw frame exposed 1/60 second at f/8, ISO 3200, daylight white balance (but reset to auto white priority with Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4). Mouseover for a label. At the time, Venus was at 4.3° altitude and 11.9° solar elongation, 61.1″ apparent diameter, 2.0% illuminated and magnitude -4.2, about 6½ days after inferior conjunction on January 8 at 7:48 pm EST. It was initially spotted in the upper tree branches at 6:32 am, 2.7° altitude, with 8x42 binoculars, then seen immediately with unaided eyes. It was last glimpsed with unaided eyes at 7:20 am and with the 8x42s at 7:30 am. The crescent shape was readily visible with the 8x42s. By 7:40 am, as I packed up and the bright sun was emerging from the trees, I could no longer locate Venus with the binoculars as I didn't have a suitable sun-blocking device available. Around 7 am, I took a look with my 88 mm apo spotting scope at 25 to 60x. The increased magnification provides a better view of the thickening, but still splendidly-thin crescent. However, it also brings out the effects of poor seeing at the low altitude, not to mention remaining turbulence from the front that just passed through, dropping overnight temperatures into the teens. My car's thermometer showed 18°F on arrival at WSF, on departure and when I got back home. At home, my thermometer showed 15°F, the same as the NWS for Maple Shade, NJ. Anyway, this was the first time that I was able to spot Venus with unaided eyes since December 26, 2021, at East Point, NJ (although the week following December 26 was consistently cloudy). Indeed, it looked bright this morning, like the Venus we're accustomed to seeing.

This is separate image of Venus taken at 7:11 am EST (half an hour after the image above) with the same camera and lens setup, but cropped to 9.6% of the original linear dimensions (less than a hundredth of the sensor's area) for a field 0.49° wide x 0.33° high to better show the crescent. It's a single frame exposed 1/1000 second at f/11, ISO 1600 (this is six stops less exposure than the wide-field shot above due to the greatly increased sunlight during the additional half-hour that passed). At an apparent diameter of 61.1″ and 400 mm focal length, Venus projected on any surface is ≈0.12 mm diameter. Given the RP's pixel size of 5.76 μm, the diameter on the sensor would be ≈21 pixels. Ignoring that it's a crescent, the full disc of Venus would be using only about 350 of the sensor's 26 megapixels!

Venus, the Morning Star
January 11, 2022

The planet Venus was captured from Wharton State Forest, NJ, on January 11, 2022, at 7:08 am EST, looking southeast in the direction of the coming sunrise (at 7:19 am). Taken with a Canon EOS RP DSLM (digital single lens mirrorless) camera and a Tamron 150 to 600 mm, f/5.0-6.3 zoom lens (on a fixed tripod) set to 600 mm focal length, then cropped to 58% of the original dimensions for a field 2.0° wide x 1.3° high. It's a single raw frame exposed 1/1250 second at f/14, ISO 3200, daylight white balance (but reset to auto white priority with Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4). Mouseover for a label. At the time, Venus was at 4.3° altitude, 6.7° above the sun along a line very nearly perpendicular to the horizon, so the cusps point essentially straight up. It was 62.6″ apparent diameter and 0.5% illuminated, 2½ days after inferior conjunction on January 8 at 7:48 pm EST. However, the crescent appears thicker in the image than it would visually in a good telescope later in the day (when it's higher in the sky) due to atmospheric and photographic effects. On this morning, it was initially spotted at 7:00 am with 15x56 binoculars and last seen at 7:20 pm when I packed up. While an easy binocular object at magnitude -4.1, Venus could not be seen with unaided eyes in the brightening twilight.

This is a heavier crop of the same raw image above, in this case, 12% of the original linear dimensions for a field about 25′ wide x 17′ high. At an apparent diameter of 62.6″ and 600 mm focal length, Venus projected on any surface is ≈0.18 mm diameter. Given the RP's pixel size is 5.76 μm, Venus' diameter would be ≈32 pixels on the sensor. Ignoring that it's a crescent, it means the full disc of Venus would be using only about 800 of the sensor's 26 megapixels!

Venus at Inferior Conjunction
January 8, 2022

Venus was at inferior conjunction with the sun at 7:48 pm EST on January 8, 2022, and their separation was just under 5° (center-to-center). Seeing Venus on the day of inferior conjunction has been a goal of mine for a long time, but in the past, I’ve been foiled by a small angular separation between them (e.g., half a degree on June 3, 2020), or poor weather when the separation wasn’t so small.