Earthshine on a crescent moon is probably my favorite thing ever, and my partner Chris knows this - that's why he called me at 6:00am on his way to work to tell me about the "crescent moon with earthshine a few feet away from the planet Venus." I swear he's learning so much just by listening to me ramble.
I was super curious what he meant by "a few feet" so I decided to take Katie outside and check it out for myself. Boy was he right! There, just above a tree, was the waning 12% crescent moon about 5° from Venus. I used my fist at arms length (which approximates 10°) and decided that it was about half that distance. Looking it up on Stellarium, it's actually a bit closer, more like 4°39' separation. Very cool!
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| Single exposure with white balance taken at 1.6 sec, ISO 800, 75mm, f/5.0 |
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| Single exposure with white balance taken at 1.6 sec, ISO 800, 180mm, f/5.6 |
If it weren't 7°F and windy, I would probably have stayed out to watch the full sunrise with Mercury peeking above the horizon just before the sun. Because of the wind, I've learned to take a lot of frames each at the same settings. This lighter weight T5i camera is easy on the wrists for handheld shooting, but doesn't stay put in a breeze.
Here are some additional exposures of the conjunction.
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| Single exposure at 1.6 sec, ISO 200, 180mm, f/5.6 |
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| Single exposure at 1.6 sec, ISO 100, 180mm, f/5.6 |
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| Single exposure at 1/60 sec, ISO 100, 180mm, f/5.6 |
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| Single frame at 1.6 sec, ISO 200, 75mm, f/5.0 |
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