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Planetary over exposures
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1
2016/05/01 - 1:28am

(Nothing about English, but ) this is so unbelievable:  the planets Mars , Saturn and Jupiter are flaunting themselves obscenely in the night sky.

From North hemisphere locations, a couple hours past midnight, you can't miss Mars being the bright orange object in the Southern sky.  Saturn is within inches to the left.  Jupiter about 1/2 the sky to the right.  

They are more high up the further south your location. So the best views should be from South hemisphere locations. There are many mobile apps that plot the times and locations exactly for you.

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2
2016/05/02 - 9:06am

I don't think Grant will mind if we go off-topic for something like this ...

Yeah, I've been following them too. Mars is making an especially close pass by Earth this time around, and at opposition on May 22 will reach magnitude -2. At that time (and a few weeks before and after) it will outshine Sirius, the brightest star in the sky at magnitude -1.47. FYI, lower number magnitudes are brighter.

But wait ... there's more! On May 9 there will be a transit of Mercury. Unlike those 3 planets, that event won't be visible planet-wide. I just posted the details on my blog today. If you want to read more about that, go here. Clear skies!

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3
2016/05/04 - 12:06am

Your Mercury transit video is the coolest (or hot?).  But the transit of May 9 perhaps won't be visible from your location?

I was not aware of the coming Mars opposition.  So thanks for that.  I only look up once in a while, and that time was struck by how the 3 planets are so conspicuous all at once.

Only once did I see  5 planets in one night, Mercury with aid of telescope, barely on top of the yard fence moments before the sun wiped it out.

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4
2016/05/04 - 9:17am

Thank you sir. It wasn't professional quality time-lapse, but I like how it turned out. You are correct that the May 9 Mercury transit will not be visible in its entirety from my location (Arizona). It'll already be in progress at sunrise, and even using a telescope (with a safe solar filter) the Sun won't get high enough in the sky for good imaging for another 2-3 hours. So I'm gonna pass on this one, but I know many AZ astronomers who will be observing for what it's worth.

Speaking of "all 5 naked eye planets" ... now that's even more rare than a Mercury transit. Happens about once every 20 years. Caught one of those this February. And as a bonus, the Moon also joined in. Tough to photograph even with a fisheye lens, since they were spread out over most of the morning sky. The "photo" I got had to be pieced together from two separate images, and you don't really get the correct perspective. It's better enjoyed with the eyes as a purely visual experience. Nonetheless, here's my attempt to capture it.

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