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

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: