Moon and Jupiter dance on a cold night

Photo: Moon and Jupiter in close conjunction, January 21, 2013. Photo by James Guilford.
Moon and Jupiter in close conjunction, January 21, 2013

Despite the fact it was 9 degrees (F) and just before 11:00 PM, I simply had to go out and try a shot of the Monday night (January 21) close conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter. Skies had cleared and the day’s occasional snows stopped, so I had a good opportunity. I stepped out on to our sidewalk and, tolerating the frigid breeze as long as I could, shot several exposures, bracketing the shutter speed. I only got one or two that were acceptable to me mostly due to focus being off. The image I’m sharing is sharp enough that (in the uncompressed original) even shows hints of Jupiter’s cloud belts, diagonal here in its tiny disk. None of Jove’s moons show due to the short exposure needed to record Earth’s Moon, just hours away from apogee. Pictures done and shared, it was off to slumberland having witnessed a cold celestial dance before bed. — James Guilford

Notes: Single-exposure image — Canon EOS 50D: ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500 sec., 400mm lens (600mm equiv.), cropped and adjusted in Adobe Photoshop.