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

  

Arcturus, Boötes Constellation Photo

Last night I went out on what I thought would be a clear night.  Perhaps 11pm is too early where I was.  I guess with a lot of humidity and light pollution or something somehow there was only one part of the sky that really looked good.  That was in the area of Arcturus the "Bear Guard", and the constellation Boötes.  Below the following Stellarium representation is the best picture I produced.  I was quite surprised to see more stars in the picture than I could with the naked eye!

click photo to enlarge

Alkaid can be seen to the right in this picture.  Alkaid is the final star of the Big Dipper leading Bootes on its journey through the sky.  Also visible is the constellation Corona Borealis and its brightest star Alphekka, and the triangular head of Serpens.

Photo of Mars, Aldebaran, Alnath in Conjunction

With Stellarium, I was able to see last night that around 4am Mars would rise in conjunction with Alnath of Auriga and Aldebaran of Taurus.  I was able to find a vantage point which allowed a decent shot of these objects, in spite of the streetlamp which in the dawn twilight and a long exposure seems bright enough to be the sun itself.  The lamp certainly drowned out some of their brilliance; Mars and Aldebaran were sparkling and colorful as usual, though they appear muted in the photo.  The Pleiades, Capella and even other dimmer stars from Auriga are visible in the picture, which I did not expect.  After initial difficulties, I am fairly impressed with what my camera is picking up!  Now that I have figured out how to take better pictures at night, I will have to search out a vantage point for the eastern horizon with less light pollution!

Alnath, Mars and Aldebaran - click photo to enlarge

Mars in Taurus and by Auriga

This morning before sunrise at 4:15am, Mars and Taurus will have risen in the Eastern sky.  The Pleiades, forming one of the hooves of Taurus, will be almost directly East and at about the same height as Capella of Auriga.  Aldebaran, the eye of the bull–and one of my favourite stars–will be lined up nicely with Mars and Alnath of Capella, forming another horizontal line in the sky.  Along the ecliptic, Jupiter will be visible in the South-East sky, and the Moon will be setting in the West.