Venus, Jupiter and the Moon

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Graham
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Hi all.

Undoubtedly this sort of question has been asked before, however I would like to have a go at imaging Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon on March 24th, 25th and 26th. They are all in close proximity and I know would make a great shot.

My question being a newbie is what settings would you recommend?

I do have a tripod, so will be using that.

Thanks,
Graham.
 
What time are we talking about, ideally whilst there is still some blue in the sky makes for the best sort of shot, focussing is the main thing and not over exposing, reflection of the sun from the moon is brighter than you think. Then bracket your shots.
 
Hi Ken, yes just on sunset. So what settings should I try?
 
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Just been out and they're still quite a way apart. 50mm on my 7D was needed to get all three in the frame. Tomorrow and Monday they will be a lot closer and I'll be using the 70-200 f2.8 to grab them. Tonight I used the 24-70 and the 50 1.8 - ISO 3200 allowed shots at 1/125 f2.8 and 1/350 f1.8. I just did some quick handheld tests tonight. Tomorrow I'll use the tripod and drop the ISO two stops and increase the shutter to 1/30 for starters, then chimp and adapt. With the Moon between the two planets a longer lens will make for a much better image.

Venus%20Jupiter%20Moon_20120324_001.jpg
 
artyman said:
What time are we talking about, ideally whilst there is still some blue in the sky makes for the best sort of shot, focussing is the main thing and not over exposing, reflection of the sun from the moon is brighter than you think. Then bracket your shots.
Click to expand...


The problem with shooting at twilight is that Jupiter is easily washed out.
 
Well this is my first Astro pic. I know it's not great, but I'm happy with it.

IMG_0091b.jpg
 
These are my 2 attempts taken around 8.45pm, we have mist and encroaching fog within the valleys so the Moon isn't as crisp as I was liking it to be, however i'm still happy with the frame and will be monitoring the second Planetary Conjunction of venus-jupiter-moon of 2012 for the next 3 days, in making a collage.

a.jpg

b.jpg
 
Now for my second attempt 25th March. Moon now better positioned.

Still much of a learning curve for me at the moment.

IMG_0137a_copy.jpg
 
Thought I'd add something here, couldn't see where else to dump it! Moon & Venus

Just to highlight how good compacts are these days. Waiting for a full moon now!

Got my TZ20 on full zoom (21x optical = 384mm in 35mm equ., Pentax Kr on max at 200mm =300mm in 35mm eq) as it was getting dark. Just Venus in there - I'll try the bracketing option next time! All cropped to suite

TZ20 f5.9, ISO 100, 1 sec exposure matrix metered
P1030777.JPG


Kr f5.6 ISO 200, 0.125 (1/8 sec) matrix metered
IMGP0401.JPG


And a later one Kr spot metered, 0.02 s (1/50) ISO 200, f5.6
IMGP0451.JPG
 
Some very good shots there guys, I went out around 10pm last night and could of got some teriffic shots cause the sky was clear as a bell. Might have a look at doing something tonight.
 
These are my attempts from last night.
To be honest I didn't have a clue what I was doing and the fact that I'm in the middle of a town and there is a huge orange street lamp about 7 meters away from me didn't help at all.
Also it took a while for my brain to work out that the funny reflection was actually from my UV filter :bang: :LOL:

Venus Moon Jupiter
QL8WF.jpg


Moon Venus
4ZI7C.jpg
 
The finale of the conjunction with the Moon passing Pleiades before the distance between all 2 planets (and Moon) becomes too great to be useable. A quick jog up the hill near to a stone monument produced these results in light-pollution free skies.

113.jpg

114.jpg
 
You should Try Saturn... with my scope at its lowest power( 36x) I can clearly see its rings
I'm going to try it later with 5d and 200mm lens though I'll have to do major cropping I think
 
I had a go last night and soon gave up trying to get all three in shot (light pollution, trees, a pub etc) and so just went for the moon for the first time. Quite pleased for a first ever attempt at this. 7D, 70-300L, 1/200 @ f5.6, ISO 200..... and a lot of cropping!

moon1.jpg
 
WilliamC said:
I had a go last night and soon gave up trying to get all three in shot (light pollution, trees, a pub etc) and so just went for the moon for the first time. Quite pleased for a first ever attempt at this. 7D, 70-300L, 1/200 @ f5.6, ISO 200..... and a lot of cropping!

moon1.jpg
Click to expand...

Fantastic shot there!
 
Where would you focus when taking the moon and planets, on the moon?
 
Phil789 said:
The moon is the only thing you have a chance of showing some detail in so I would focus on that. Although they are all so far away I don't think it will make much difference
Click to expand...

Actually using a bright star (or planet) may make it easier to get the right focus. You just twiddle the manual focus until it's the smallest dot you can possibly get. Doing it with liveview makes it easier.
 
RjLPhotography said:
114.jpg
Click to expand...

That's a great shot :clap:

Only chance I really got was on Saturday evening as it was a bit cloudy until that date. Then I wasn't dressed right for the weather (it was -10/15c on the balcony), so couldn't really set the camera up right. So, tripod up, D90 with 60mm Macro lens (70-300mm was too short to get all 3 in), and fired away. Think this was with a 4 second shutter speed, which was too long, but I just wanted a shot and I was freezing!!!


Venus, Jupiter & Moon (24-Mar-12) by TorontoBlue, on Flickr
 
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