Ad Astra Observatory

Venus and Mars have been putting on a show for the past month or so, and once a month, the Moon drops by for a visit. I missed it last month, don’t remember why, but this time, I decided to see if I could capture a shot.

The 4-day moon is bright and blown-out in this photo; if I could have gotten a little exposure control, I could have tuned it a bit.You can see the dimmer “Earthshine” part of the moon, sticking out of the glare. Venus is big, bright, and obvious to the right, and much dimmer Mars is above and between the two, making an almost-right triangle. Unfortunately, there is a camera glare artifact (the blob of not-really-out-there internal reflections above and left of the Moon).

I’d like to get my planetary mojo working again this spring/summer. I think Jupiter will be fun, once Virgo is up a little earlier in the evening.