I had been waiting for it all month. Let me explain.
Toward the end of each month, a video comes out on YouTube which details the coming month's celestial events of interest. I learned, while watching the August edition, that the Moon would occult (Move in front of) Saturn on the 17th of September, 2024. Well, it would when viewed from America at least. Here, in New Zealand, the two would simply come fairly close together. That was good enough for me. I had been watching the calendar ever since then and hoping that the evening of the 17th would be clear and cold, with little or no wind, and with low humidity. Picky, aren't I?
Alas, it was not be be. We had had rain, off and on, all day on the 17th and the forecast was for rainy spells during the next couple of days. That, coupled with winds that averaged 20 mph., dampened my hopes for a good photographic outcome.
However, when I checked the conditions that night, once the Moon was high enough above the horizon clutter to photograph, I discovered that there were gaps between the clouds so I thought I might yet have a shot at seeing the pair together. And I did!
My post this week, as you've probably surmised, is the record I made of that conjunction. (A passing of two or more celestial bodies) Here is the first picture. I took these from our balcony.
The Moon is about 237,000 miles away from us. Saturn is roughly 887 million miles. This picture was taken at about 83 power. If I took the Moon's picture as it actually appeared above our village, with no zoom in other words, I don't know if you'd be able to see Saturn very well. To the naked eye, it looks like a not-very-bright star. Here's a comparison. (The more negative the number, the brighter a planet looks) Venus is -3.89, Jupiter is -2.36 and Saturn is 0.58.
You could fit 3,500 Moons inside Saturn I read, but look how tiny Saturn appears at such a distance. This is a zoom that I did on my computer, of the first picture. I don't know what magnification it would be. Considerable.
There are a couple of things to mention regarding this next photo. First are the wispy clouds. I was surprised that the camera was able to focus on Saturn through them. They soon got much heavier, to the point that I couldn't even see the Moon. The second thing, and even more interesting, is that Saturn seems to be moving higher in relation to the Moon. When I started shooting, it was at about 4 o'clock. Here, it is at 3.
This view shows Saturn a little higher up again.
I like this next one. Lots of clouds, and look how high against the Moon it has moved.
This is a zoom of the photo just above.
As you saw, clouds were getting serious in the last shot. I was prevented from taking any more pictures for a good hour or more after that. We even got a little drizzle. Then, finally, the sky opened up for just a minute or two, and I got a last look. The quality of Saturn's image has suffered though.
Look how high it has moved. It's 'moving away' from the Moon now. The 3 o'clock location was as close as it got.
This is a zoom of the picture above.
I am enormously pleased that I got the pictures I did. The humidity was 70% as I took these. I think had it been higher, I wouldn't be showing you this post.
This is the site I use to track the monthly astronomical events each month.
And this one is a little gold mine of information. With it, you can see your current night sky and find the location of any planet, the Moon, sun and many stars. You'll have to type your city into the field at the top right to get your personal sky scene.
I haven't talked at all this week about Jupiter, but I want to give you another site, just because I am in an astronomy mode at present.
As you may already know, or remember, if you have read my Jupiter-themed posts, Jupiter has four 'Galilean' moons, named after the early astronomer who first described them. I have photographed them often. (It has over 80 other moons but they're too small to see.)
This next site will show you where each G. moon is in real time. I find it fascinating. You can even watch them change with time, or you can change the clock and see where they were or will be. This site shows you how they look from the northern hemisphere. (Direct View) When I look at the site, I switch to the inverted view since I'm in the southern hemisphere.
Since I've been talking about Jupiter, I guess I might as well show you some of my favorite photos. It documents another conjunction I witnessed that happened back on 12/29/22, my brother Wayne's birthday.
Here is what I saw above our village that night. Remember, the end of December means that it's the middle of summer here. (That's not the full Moon, you'll see in the next shot that it's only partially lit up.)
Here is the partially illuminated Moon with Jupiter and its four Galilean Moons.
It's very hard to see, but there are three moons to the right of Jupiter and one that is partially hidden on the left side. It's 444 million miles after all. I'll zoom in really close now and show you the moons. They are slightly elongated due to camera wiggle. Note that these next two picture vary slightly. I took them at 9:55 and 10:05 pm. Look in this first one, at the position of the moon to the left of Jupiter. You'll see in the second photo that it has moved closer to the planet.
I continue to be astounded that I can see such sights.
I hope that you've enjoyed this look at my night sky. I was up late last night (9/17/24) clicking away and then got up a little early this morning to shoot a few sunrise pictures. You know how I love them. Here are two from this morning. (9/18/24)
Village view
I want you to notice, as you look at this picture, that it has two red arrows toward the sides. They mark the limits, north (left) and south (right) of the Sun's positions, as it moves between the solstices each year. The angles of the arrows indicate the direction in which the Sun moves as it rises. You can see this morning that we are very close to being half-way back. See you next week. -djf
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