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On March 2, 2023, the day of the conjunction, Venus and Jupiter were closer to each other, just about half a degree apart, i.e. the apparent diameter of the Full Moon. The conjunction occurred during the day in Europe. In addition, the weather conditions were difficult in Switzerland at that time… On the evening of March 4, 2023, a clear sky offered a wonderful opportunity for immortalizing Venus and Jupiter separated by 2° 34′. On the full-resolution image, the Galilean moons and a lot of stars are visible in spite of twilight. Click here for an image without labels, ideal as desktop background. |
Mars observed through a 6-inch Maksutov telescope. The plain Syrtis Major and the southern polar ice cap are clearly visible. Magnitude -2.0, angular diameter 19.1″, illumination 89%, elevation 46°. Distance between Earth and Mars: 74 million km on Nov. 6 (when the picture was taken), 62 million km on Oct. 14 (at opposition). Setup: Canon EOS R + Skywatcher SkyMax150 + Eyepiece Baader Hyperion 8-24mm (eyepiece projection @ 12mm). Settings: Exp 750x 1/40s, 18.6m, f/124, ISO 6400, UTC 20:36. Estimated resolution corresponding nearly to the theoretical limit of the telescope: 0.93″ or 330 km at Mars level. |
Mars with the southern polar ice cap (CO2 at a temperature of -130°C), Saturn and Jupiter through a 6-inch Maksutov telescope Mars: Mag. -2.2, ang. diam. 21.4″, ill. 88%, elev. 25°. Saturn: 0.4, 17.5″, 97%, 18°. Jupiter: -2.4, 42.1″, 94%, 16°. Setup: Canon EOS R (for Mars and Saturn), Canon EOS 60Da (for Jupiter) + Skywatcher SkyMax150 + Eyepiece Baader Hyperion 8-24mm (eyepiece projection) Settings for Mars: Exp 1/80s, 18m, f/120, ISO 20000, UTC 21:28. Saturn: Exp 1/40s, 6.7m, f/45, ISO 20000, UTC 21:08. Jupiter: Exp 1/40s, 5.5m, f/37, ISO 6400, UTC 20:42 |
The four Galilean satellites of Jupiter through a telephoto lens. From left to right: Callisto, Io, Jupiter, Ganymede and Europa Setup: Canon EOS R + EF 70-200 f/2.8 L and Skywatcher Star Adventurer travel mount Settings: Exp 1/8s, 200mm, f/8, ISO 1600, UTC 22:44. Android App: Moons of Jupiter |
May 6, 2020
Venus through a Maksutov telescope Mag. -4.49, ang. diam. 42.6″, ill. 19.6% Setup: Canon EOS M6 + Skywatcher SkyMax150 + Eyepiece Baader Hyperion 8-24mm (eyepiece projection) Settings: Exp 1/640s, 11800mm, f/79, ISO 3200. |
May 18, 2020
Venus through an apochromatic refractor Mag. -4.32, ang. diam. 51.1″, ill. 8.3% Setup: Canon EOS M6 + Skywatcher Esprit 80-ED + Eyepiece Baader Hyperion 8-24mm (eyepiece projection) Settings: Exp 1/4000s, 3600mm, f/45, ISO 2000. |
Atmosphere of Venus
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Conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades, taken with a telephoto.
Setup: Canon EOS R + EF 70-200mm f/2.8L, Settings: Exp 10s, 200mm, f/3.2, ISO 3200. Tracking ensured by a SkyWatcher Star Adventurer mount. |
Defocused image for revealing the colors of the stars and Venus. Stars of the Pleiades are blue, i.e. extremely hot. Venus looks yellowish.
Canon EOS R + EF 70-200mm f/2.8L, Settings: Exp 3.2s for the stars and background, 1/160s for Venus, 200mm, f/4, ISO 3200. Tracking ensured by a SkyWatcher Star Adventurer mount. |
Venus. Magnitude -4.42, angular diameter 26.7″, illumination 44.8%.
Canon EOS M6 + Celestron C5, Settings: Exp 1/4000s, 1250mm, f/10, ISO 1250. No tracking. |
Waxing Gibbous Moon inducing a relatively bright sky background. Angular diameter 74x of Venus.
Canon EOS M6 + Celestron C5, Settings: Exp 1/640s, 1250mm, f/10, ISO 2500. No tracking. |
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The Full Moon, taken at UTC 19:14 from the Croatian island of Lošinj. Penumbral stage of the eclipse.
Setup: Canon EOS M6 + 24-105mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/4s, 58mm, f/8, ISO 800 |
The eclipse at UTC 21:34, with the Franciscan Church bell tower and monastery (15th century) of Nerezine.
Canon EOS M6 + 24-105mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1s, 47mm, f/6.3, ISO 800 |
Partial phase at UTC 21:43, i.e. 13 minutes after the maximum.
Canon EOS M6 + 400mm f/5.6 L, Settings: Exp 1/2s, f/6.3, ISO 800 |
Partial phase at UTC 21:43-21:44, with different shutter speeds.
Setup: Idem as the previous image, added by EV +3, +6, +9 |
Exactly 50 years ago, it was the launch date of the rocket Saturn V SA-506 from the Kennedy Space Center LC-39A.
Neil Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface on July 21 1969 at 02:56 UTC; Buzz Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later.
Michael Collins remained in the command module Columbia orbiting around the Moon during that time.
This was the
Apollo 11 mission. The three astronauts came back on the Earth on July 24.
Click on this link for getting the
press clipping of the anniversary eclipse
© Journal du Jura.
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Full Moon on April 18, 2019
Image taken 14 hours before the opposition with Canon optics |
Full Moon on April 19, 2019
Image taken 10 hours after the opposition with Celestron optics |
Notice that the atmospheric conditions are not exactly identical at 24 hours interval. For instance, an optical system having a larger aperture will be more affected by the turbulent layers in the atmosphere (cf. astronomical seeing). Only a comparison in a lab and under rigorously identical conditions is relevant. This has been performed for characterizing the Canon and the Celestron optical setup. Short summary of the results: The better resolution at the center of the image is obtained with the C5 + Corrector, but the better uniformity of the field is clearly provided with the Canon lens. Click on this link for visualizing the results © Michel Willemin.
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| The Lunar Eclipse rising over Aaberg (BE, Switzerland) on July 27, 2018 | Five stages of the eclipse on July 27, 2018 observed from Prêles (BE, Switzerland) |
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The Moon on March 23, 2018 @ UTC 21:25
Setup: Canon EOS M6 + 400mm f/5.6L, Settings: Exp 1/500s, f/8, ISO 500 © Michel Willemin |
Other images of the Moon
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| The Moon on April 21, 2018 | Mare Nectaris, lunar craters Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina on April 21, 2018 |
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Jupiter on May 25, 2017 UTC 20:54 Setup: Canon EOS 60Da + Skywatcher Esprit 80ED + Eyepiece Baader Hyperion 8-24mm (eyepiece projection) Settings: Exp 1/30s, stacking of 326 frames, focal length 9300mm, f/116, ISO 800. |
Saturn on May 25, 2017 UTC 23:26 Setup: Canon EOS 60Da + Skywatcher Esprit 80ED + Eyepiece Baader Hyperion 8-24mm (eyepiece projection) Settings: Exp 1/30s, stacking of 398 frames, focal length 9300mm, f/116, ISO 3200. |
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Observatory of the Société Neuchâteloise d'Astronomie (SNA), Malvilliers (NE), Switzerland Website SNA |
Solarscope A very simple device for observing safely sunspots, transits, eclipses. Website of Solarscope |
Setup in use Technical description of the Solarscope
Source: Ph. Merlin, Lyon Observatory (F) |
Image of the transit of Venus given by the Solarscope Setup: Minolta DiMAGE F100 + Solarscope UTC 7:19 Settings: Exp 1/180s, 22mm (35mm equivalent: 107mm), f/6.7, ISO 100. |
Beginning of the transit of Venus Setup: Minolta DiMAGE F100 + Vixen refractor 80M (910mm, f/11) + Eyepiece Orthoscopic 20mm (afocal projection) UTC 5:34 Settings: Exp 1/125s, 23.4mm (35mm equivalent: 114mm) f/5.6, ISO 100. |
Transit of Venus Setup: Idem UTC 9:07 Settings: Exp 1/180s, 23.4mm (35mm equivalent: 114mm) f/5.6, ISO 100. |
Transit of Venus with a different camera orientation Setup: Idem UTC 9:08 Settings: Exp 1/180s, 23.4mm (35mm equivalent: 114mm) f/8.0, ISO 100. |
This paragraph describes
the Saturn occultation by the Moon of November 3, 2001. The entrance phase was visible between 20:56:57 and
20:58:22 (UT) and the emerging phase between 22:00:50 and 22:02:28 (UT). The occurrence of such a phenomena is unfortunately not frequent,
but it happened several time on the period 2001-2002.
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Experimental setup
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Occultation images
Click here to see the occultation movie
(*.gif) (592 kB)
Images of the Moon
These images have been taken between the entrance and the emerging phases of the occultation. The experimental setup is identical and the exposure time is still 40 ms for all pictures.
Zoom on Saturn
The two following zooms on Saturn are obtained from the image displayed on the top of this page. The image processing (Fourier analysis/correction) has been performed by Raoul Behrend. The division of Cassini becomes clearly visible. For further enhancement of the resolution, multiple shots images with statistical averaging are required. The example presented here is close to the limit achievable with a single shot image obtained with a 200mm aperture telescope.
The next images are obtained from the combination of 13 single shots with exactly the same setup as described above. The image processing (unsharp masking and image addition) has been performed with the freeware Iris 3.5.4. The resolution can be further increased by compositing a larger number of images.
