Winter Constellations: Gemini, Orion

Two of the Winter constellations, Gemini and Orion, are now visible before sunrise.  Tonight, I will try to take a picture of the eastern sky where they appear, as the forecast looks good for clear skies.  Last night clouds covered up a near eclipse of Mars and the moon in Gemini.  Tonight, Mars will still be sitting in Gemini, and at 4:45am a thin crescent Moon will have risen just behind them.  Procyon of Canis Minoris will be hanging over the Eastern cardinal point:

Eastern Sky, 4:45am, August 26

  

Jupiter over Toronto Skyline

Last night I was able to capture some photos of Jupiter over the Toronto cityscape.  After several days in Toronto with overcast skies, I was glad when they cleared the night before I had to return to Ottawa.  In the photo posted below, several stars of Perseus and Aries are visible, including Hamal and Algol, which was very surprising, as when I took the pictures I could in fact only by naked-eye see Jupiter.  I'm not sure, but I think in the photo is even possible to see the pleiades partially eclipsed by the CN Tower.  The quality of this picture I owe to the advice of my cousin who I was visiting, who is a professional film maker.  His instruction was to reduce the ISO setting on my camera to sharpen the image.  I'm pretty impressed with how my camera was able to capture stars which weren't even aparent at the time I took the photo, and am looking forward to seeing improved results in my night time photography.

Jupiter over Toronto skyline - click to enlarge photo

Stellarium rendering of Eastern Sky over Toronto at 01:20