Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction 21st December 2020
The date has come and gone, but the weather was the trickiest part of the event: we had a large cloudy set of systems across much of the northern portion of the USA, though we had almost exactly 30 minutes of clear skies here in Exeter, NH to see the conjunction in all its glory before the clouds then fog took over the evening.
Arrival at the observatory is something I just do, especially when there is an interesting or important event taking place. The day had been solidly overcast, but I was keeping watch on the NOAA GOES-East: Sector View site to see if any clear regions were headed our way. Sure enough, there was a parting in the clouds, about the width of Massachusetts, headed towards us from the southwest. I set up the camera and the telescope in the dome, pointing them both at the correct location… ready for that clear sky moment! Sure enough, the sky did clear!
Setup next to one of the observatory domes, the wide field view was lovely. With good vision, one could easily separate the two planets, Jupiter the brighter of the two, and Saturn the fainter. Here is a photo taken with Nikon D-810 and a AF-S Nikkor 1:3.5-5.6 28-300mm zoom lens, one of my favorite go-to travel lenses. The system was on a stable tripod and time-delay release was used on the shutter to prevent vibrations. The inset image is the telescopic view of the planet pair.
Moving inside the dome, I had the Takahashi FC-125 refractor setup with a Nikon D-810a at prime focus. This stem is very stable, driven on a Paramount Me and protected from the wind. Here are a couple of images taken through the telescope, one long exposure to see Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons, and another to see some planetary detail. The seeing conditions were atrocious this evening, so no detail was really seen on Jupiter, alas. Saturn’s rings were readily visible, though.
Below is a long exposure image of the scene with all the objects labeled for identification. Those objects labeled “HIP #” are stars that happen to be in the field of view.
Below is an image from within the dome, a view looking along the telescope out the dome aperture where the conjunction was easily seen. This photo was taken with an iPhone. The insert is the telescope’s view. You can also see the incoming clouds from the southwest which were headed to interfere with our observing plan in the very near future.
Not some 10 minutes later, this is what the observatory site looked like: a foggy mess. Only the first quarter moon was visible through the fog and clouds.
Jupiter and Saturn: This December’s Excitement
A few nights ago we had some clear evening skies. What to do? Grab the camera gear, head out and image the upcoming Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, of course! We took out two tripods and two Nikon D810 cameras, each with different lenses: one a 200-500 Zoom and the other a 28-300mm zoom. We wanted to grab some wide field shots with appropriate backgrounds and some closeup shots to show the planets’ details. Sunset was at 4:11pm local time, so we headed out just about that time, and got things setup after scouting out the area around the observatory. The waxing crescent moon was up, and we could easily make out Jupiter and Saturn headed into the trees by the western horizon. By 5:00pm we were taking photos. Here are some of the better images… ahhh these days of electronic photos, where one can simply delete the bad ones and keep the good ones! Be sure to click on the images which will bring you to a place were you can see them in higher resolution.
A wide field view of the Moon and planets over the 0.7m telescope dome.
Zooming in a little, the same view as above.
Zoomed in with the 500mm system. This lens has autofocus and vibration reduction, which allows a pretty good view for such a system. The rings are clearly visible.
Jupiter and Saturn’s Big Month Together: 2020 December
Those looking up at the sky through late November to late December are in for a real treat, a close conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. This is quite an event! It will be easily visible to those with or without optical aid. It takes place early in the evening, so even those who go to bed early can enjoy. All you need is a clear early evening and a low horizon to the southwest. Here’s a short video to show you more. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/rKwFqnVdKiM
NGC 6888:The Crescent Nebula
Last night’s target now processed… stage 1…. the initial offering. Sometimes I remain happy with the first edit, sometimes not. This is NGC6888, the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. The central star is known as a Wolf-Rayet star, WF 136, which is massive and rapidly shedding its outer laters into the surrounding interstellar medium. This whole system is about 5000 light-years distant and about 25 light years across. This image was taken with our 0.7m telescope through several filters: Luminance is a combination of one hour of clear plus one hour of Ha. The color data was taken using Ha, SII, and OIII narrowband filters.
