It is not often that we can observe the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, also known as a great conjunction. They occur around every 20 years, but according to this NASA article, it has been almost 400 years since the two planets appeared this close, and about 800 years since it occurred at night.
So I took the DSLR out of its bag and went out to see if I can catch a glimpse, and hopefully a photo. But before that, I checked Google Maps to see how to orient myself in a southwest direction, since the planets were supposed to be in that direction in the evening before they disappeared below the horizon.
Trying to capture it on my phone, a Samsung Galaxy S7, at around five in the evening gave me a dot. No sign of another planet anywhere near.
Post processing it with GIMP revealed no other planet.
An hour later, at six in the evening, it was much darker. I still could not really make out the second planet (Saturn) with my naked eye, but it kind of showed on the phone.
Blowing up the photo on GIMP showed that Saturn was faintly to the upper right of Jupiter.
Using my DSLR with a 18-135mm lens, I set to max zoom, exposure to 0.6", and somehow managed to capture something without having to use a tripod (which I don't own...)
Using GIMP to blow up that particular spot gave this.
Clearly, two distinct planets. The brighter being Jupiter (it is bigger and nearer) and the dimmer one is Saturn. Not having a tripod is the reason the planets are not round. I held my breath, kept my elbows close to my body, but there was still a bit of shaking while taking the photo. Not a bad attempt, I would say.
The next time they will be this close is 2080. I don't think I will live to see that day. Guess this is a once-in-a-lifetime treat. 😅
No comments:
Post a Comment