Alrot! I need your help! Sky-gazing...

[Omag 2.0]

Tonight we had a magificent sunset, but then I noticed the moon! Stunning... a true jewel in the sky...



While I was out I tried some settings on a star I saw... it turned out to be a planet! I can see several moons! Alrot, is this Jupiter I spotted?



A real star, different colour, more blueish...      



I need to try some more shots when it gets dark enough on another night! It amazes me what my camera can do!

Cheers,

Omag

[Triple_7]

Neat moon

Not sure about Jupiter...but I know Mars is visible sometimes

[Craig.]

were these through a telescope Kris? or do you just have no light pollution what so ever? Very nice shots.

[flyboy 28]

I do think that is Jupiter.. looks more like a jet on final approach though.. nose landing-light. Great shots, Kris

[beaky]

That is in fact Jupiter (I haven't checked the ephemera, but I recognize it). On a good night you can easily see all 4 primary moons with even a modest telescope. Or a good camera...that's a good shot! I'll bet with that camera you might stand a good chance of capturing Saturn- it will look much like Jupiter, only with "handles" (the rings) and one very bright moon visible (Titan).
Here's a hint for future reference: planets in our local system do not appear to "twinkle"(to the naked eye) whereas stars are so distant (even the nearest other than Sol is over 4 light-years away), their light is pretty feeble by the time it reaches us, and the atmosphere wreaks havoc with it. Most people never believe me when I tell them this... take a good look next time and you'll see I'm right.

Very nice shot of the crescent Moon, there...  8)

[Woodlouse2002]

I'm well impressed with all those moons. If it wasn't cloudy and windy i'd be tempted to get me telescope out.

[Saitek]

Great shots Kris. Did you have a telescope for that? Or did you have a fantastic zoom?

We can't see the stars here - I have forgotten what they look like!  :'( All we have is cloud. Besides it doesn't get dark  enough here to see the stars in the summer anyway.

[Mobius]

Very cool shots.  That star is hot!




*Little joke there, the hotter the star, the more whitish/blue it is, yes I know, it's stupid, and yes, I am sorry.

[Jeph]

those are some awesome, awesome pics!!!  :o i cant keep my eyes off the first 2, and wonder of those are the moons or perhaps glare in #2 awesome shots though!!!

its possible to see jupiter, mars, venus, and saturn all in one night...though its kinda rare, i believe.

one quesition i have for stargazers; working third shift, i do see one object in the sky, or at least i have over the last couple months; right before sunrise. im not sure if its venus, i know venus is the "morning star". the star(?) is usually visible about an hour before sunrise, and to the right of where the sun would rise. its the brightest thing in the sky aside from the moon..anyone know what that is?

[Woodlouse2002]

Venus is the most common planet to see and if it's in the east in the morning then there's little else it could be as Mercury is I believe very difficult to see.

[Willit Run]

Awesome Shots, Kris!!!!!

 That Moon shot is Spectacular!!!!!!

[BAW0343]

That is Jupiter,  most definately,    and that star in the morning is most likely venus.

[Omag 2.0]

That's all done with my Panasonic FZ5 and a tripod. I was kinda lucky to catch the moons, as a shuttertime of 1.3 sec made them visible. Longer shuttertime means the moons disappear in the light of the planet and a lower shuttertime makes the moons less visible. I've tested it and several 1.3 sec shots gave this result.

Now, this was still early in the evening ( 23:30 locally), and there was still light in the west visible. We have very little lightpollution where I live, and on cloudless nights you get to see the milkyway.

My father has a small telescope and it should be possible to attach my camera to it, so I might check it out soon...

Cheers,

Omag

[killerbunny]

Great pics!

That sure is Jupiter, and you can see 4 of its brightest moons too.  From left to right : Ganymedes and Europa, Jupiter in the middle, then Io and Callisto.  The dot on the right of Jupiter which is a bit higher then the other two is a star.



Maybe if you expose Jupiter shorter, you probably would see the bands of clouds of Jupiter.

If you are interested in this stuff I can recommend some freeware astronomy programs so you can look up what you are looking at.   Hallo northern sky or Cartes du Ciel

@jeph : at the moment Venus rises before the sun does, so I'm pretty sure its venus you see  Mars and Saturn are visible too, but they are quite low in the skies nowadays.

[Omag 2.0]

Hey, that's interesting Killerbunny! Thanks for the info!  :)