Planet Scenes April 2023
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April 23 The Moon has been ascending the vault of the evening sky with each passing day since its meeting with the Sun at the hybrid eclipse over the Indian Ocean, Australia and Indonesia on the 20th. On this evening Luna is just past Venus, making for an attractive pairing. |
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April 18 Saturn has been a morning object for several months now, but owing to the shallow angle of the ecliptic and its modest brightness, it has taken awhile for it to become easily visible. Here we can see how far Saturn has progressed along a path south of the ecliptic into Aquarius. I was born in 1963 when Saturn was in Capricornus; during its next visit to the Sea-Goat in 1992 I was 29 years old, living in Boulder Colorado; I'm now just past the 58-59 year mark of its most recent passage through that constellation. Will I see the next time that Saturn passes through this area? I would have to be 87 years old LOL. |
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April 10 Venus is engaged in its drive-by of the Pleiades in the context of its 2023 - 2015 - 2007 - 1999 apparitions, so here we decided to capture the view with a telephoto lens; instead of using my go-to Nikkor 200 or 300 mm lenses, I went with an older Vivitar 75 - 205 mm zoom lens ~ lots of vignetting going on here, not sure why?!? |
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April 9 Venus is now two days away from the point at which it passes the Pleiades, at which time Mercury will also be at greatest elongation (although fainter than today). This view is from Chatham Manor overlooking the Rappahannock River (which can be seen at bottom) toward Fredericksburg, Virginia. Uranus is also in the scene, although almost too faint to even be detectable on the image. |
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April 2 Venus is spending its last few days in Aries, having left Uranus behind a few days ago. Mercury is becoming more prominent as its increasing altitude compared to the horizon each evening outweighs its decreasing brightness. For a change of pace, I went to the Fredericksburg National Battlefield, this portion of which is situated on Marye's Heights overlooking the town, although these views to the west are oriented with the old town portion of the city behind us to the east. The second image was taken looking at the gate to Willis Hill Cemetery. |
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