Moon, Mars in proximity in Taurus: Pictures

Last night I went out with the camera to try and take a picture of Mars and the Moon in proximity, within the constellation Taurus, which at 3:25am would look like this:

3:25am, July 26 2011, Eastern Sky

The moon coming into proximity with Mars in the morning had been on my radar since the Moon last lapped Mars a month ago.  It looked good on Stellarium and I posted about it here, but it was still too close to the horizon and the Sunrise for good pictures.  The Eastern horizon where I am has city lights which dim the stars in that part of the sky.  A month ago the proximity event looked like this: 

4:15am, June 28 2011, Eastern Sky

The moon passes by Mars about once a month as they travel the ecliptic, but sometimes they can't be seen together because it happens in the vicinity of the Sun.  In fact, Mars is only now emerging from behind the Sun after being obscured by it for nearly a year! Last year on this day, Mars was visible in the evening, but each night it inched closer and closer to the spot of the sunset on the horizon until finally, by Summer's end it had slipped under the horizon and behind the Sun for a long sleep.  Now that Mars has emerged at dawn, I was looking forward to getting pictures of it and the moon, which haven't been seen together for over a year!  I went out to a nearby spot where I thought the Eastern horizon would have less light pollution:

Aldebaran, Moon and Taurus rising - click to enlarge

It looked like clouds would ruin the show.  By the time I got set up and took a few pictures, Mars still hadn't shown up and more clouds were blowing in.  I took about 2 dozen photos here, but only a couple turned out any good.  Here is a messy one in which Jupiter is visible in the upper right along with the Moon and the Pleiades:

Jupiter, Moon and Pleiades, 3:30am, July 26, 2011

I gave up on the whole thing and went home.  I worked for a bit, but then noticed the sky had cleared just as dawn was cracking.  I got set up and managed to get the following shot:

Moon, Mars, Aldebaran proximity, 4:25am July 26, 2011 - click to enlarge

This picture turned out quite sharp and revealed a lot of stars, in spite of light pollution and being close to dawn.  But I really could not see the bright red quality of Mars, and in any case, the real proximity event is tonight, when the Moon becomes a thin crescent and bears right down on Mars:

The moon will practically be on top of Mars!  I wonder if it's light will not drown Mars out in any pictures I take?  I hope I can produce better pictures tonight.  It's too bad- the Sun will rise before I'll be able to see the Moon eclipse Mars. People living in Honolulu can see the eclipse just before their sunrise, which is later than here.  Any eclipse is a rare event.  Mars and the Moon will be in proximity once a month for the next many months now.  Also, since Mars has emerged, rising in front of the Sun, it will continue to get brighter and more visible as it moves closer to the earth in its orbit and further from the point of the sunrise, higher into the night sky! 

Pictures!

Finally last night I managed to get some pictures!  Between waiting for clear skies, finding good vantage points and figuring out how to take good pictures at night with a digital camera, it's been hard going!  I went out at about 3:45am, and took some pictures on different settings.  I have found with a bit of practice in the house when it's dark, that the best way to take pictures of scenery, especially at night, you need to keep the aperture small for good sharpness, and adjust the shutter-speed depending on how dark it is.  The pictures that came out best for me last night I took at about 1-4 seconds shutter speed.  The following two are of the moon, the first reveals how black it is outside, and the second shows just how well my camera can see in the dark when the shutter speed is slowed:

Daytime Moonrise

Today at 1055 the Moon will rise at due east.  Sunlight should reflect off the edge of the Moon, which is forming a thin triangle with the Sun and the Earth.  The Earth and the Moon are like specs bound close together, rotating around the Sun which is 400x further away.  Right now the Moon is slightly in front of and beside the part of the Earth facing the Sun in its rotation, so a thin part of the bright side of the Moon is visible to Earth as a crescent.  At 1055, the Earth will have rotated enough so that Ottawa will be facing both the Sun and Moon in space.  Daytime should allow a picture!