Posted: 2/22/2026 10:43:35 PM EDT
[Last Edit: AR15Texan][Edited]
|
Anyone taking pictures of the Planet parade? Can you post pictures if you do? @Fredman |
|
This was from last year, late February, early March. The issue is that it's just really difficult to capture the span of the ecliptic. You'd need a number of frames, and you'd have to be extraordinarily fast about it, because it's only going to be apparent at dusk/twilight, and the lighting is changing so fast, multiple frames are really hard to pull off. 2/28 Moon and Saturn, just below the power pole insulators/cross bar.  3/1 Moon, Venus and Mercury  I didn't even try to capture Jupiter and Mars, overhead. The distortion in trying to stitch it together, trying to match the sky edge-to-edge with the light falloff of a 12-24, forget it. I did really like how Venus was in a crescent last year. It's the first time I've ever been able to capture it as such. Venus  Not Venus   Both, and both in crescent phase... [at 100% resolution, you can discern the crescent of Venus]  |
|
I will, weather permitting, make an attempt. Here's my last attempt. it's difficult to capture the entire scene and have it look dramatic due to the scale of the sky. My method was to merge several 11mm shots. Here's the unannotated finished product  DSC_6338-Pano-Planetary Alignment 2025-03-03 by FredMan, on FlickrHere's the annotated product  DSC_6338-Pano-Planetary Alignment 2025-03-03_Labels by FredMan, on FlickrAnd here's the merged frames, without any cropping. IIRC correctly this is nearly 180 degrees of azimuth, and 6-8? frames.  Planetary Alignment 2025-03-03 No Crop by FredMan, on Flickr
|
ProTip: Never pick a fight with a tree planter. He swings a hoedad for 9 hours a day, carries 30-40 pounds of seedlings on his back, and has 12-14 friends just like him hiding out on the other side of the junk butt pile. They will fuck your shit up.
|
The planets looked more favorable for viewing last night than what I'm seeing for the 28th. On the 28th, a couple of them are going to be so low on the horizon, most won't be able to see it. And last night had something far cooler, anyway, the Moon crossed through Pleiades. About two lunar diameters from the center of the constellation. I had done a walk-through for the first quarter of 2026 looking for approaches of the Moon and Jupiter, but guess I forgot to also check for Pleiades, and missed it last night. From a couple years ago (and not nearly as close as last night's pass), but I was already maxed out at 400mm, so it's not like I was going to get more detail, and my Pleiades detail would just fall further apart, because the blue fringe was shot with a much wider focal length (without a tracker, it's the only way I've been able to get the cloud), greatly upscaled, and layered in. 
|
|
Originally Posted By L_JE: The planets looked more favorable for viewing last night than what I'm seeing for the 28th. On the 28th, a couple of them are going to be so low on the horizon, most won't be able to see it. And last night had something far cooler, anyway, the Moon crossed through Pleiades. About two lunar diameters from the center of the constellation. I had done a walk-through for the first quarter of 2026 looking for approaches of the Moon and Jupiter, but guess I forgot to also check for Pleiades, and missed it last night. From a couple years ago (and not nearly as close as last night's pass), but I was already maxed out at 400mm, so it's not like I was going to get more detail, and my Pleiades detail would just fall further apart, because the blue fringe was shot with a much wider focal length (without a tracker, it's the only way I've been able to get the cloud), greatly upscaled, and layered in. https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-WnzDKCZ/0/K7KgBhkPchDVCnrmCnR7WHn36Pzcx8L4ZLKRVkQGL/X3/i-WnzDKCZ-X3.jpg What is the equipment you used? |
|
Originally Posted By AR15Texan: What is the equipment you used? Originally Posted By AR15Texan: Originally Posted By L_JE: The planets looked more favorable for viewing last night than what I'm seeing for the 28th. On the 28th, a couple of them are going to be so low on the horizon, most won't be able to see it. And last night had something far cooler, anyway, the Moon crossed through Pleiades. About two lunar diameters from the center of the constellation. I had done a walk-through for the first quarter of 2026 looking for approaches of the Moon and Jupiter, but guess I forgot to also check for Pleiades, and missed it last night. From a couple years ago (and not nearly as close as last night's pass), but I was already maxed out at 400mm, so it's not like I was going to get more detail, and my Pleiades detail would just fall further apart, because the blue fringe was shot with a much wider focal length (without a tracker, it's the only way I've been able to get the cloud), greatly upscaled, and layered in. https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-WnzDKCZ/0/K7KgBhkPchDVCnrmCnR7WHn36Pzcx8L4ZLKRVkQGL/X3/i-WnzDKCZ-X3.jpg What is the equipment you used? I probably need to go back and add some noise in the shadows to avoid .jpg compression banding in the atmospheric glow around the Moon. |
