A Post Card Home

An interesting evening ending at Leacock's home. Looking out I could see the comet NEOWISE in a

postcard setting:


Earlier I saw the comet below the Big Dipper with the space station in the foreground.

Calm 19°C and only a few mosquitos

Bass Lake from the end of Line #13- 50 photos.

WOB

Sunset over Bass Lake

It was cold - someone left the "door" open and there was a draft - 15kmh at -5C and bare heads, often, to take photos. (whoops, editor's note: bare hands - head must have been suffering hyperthermia?)

Here are some:

And then it was soon possible to see Venus lower left of Mercury:

My tripod could not take the cold any longer and its joints cracked finally after nearly 20 years of service - so the last photo was hand-held (loving care, and no shivers, my timbers of Sherwood  Forest.)

Mercury was only half the distance to Venus and had about the same angular size tonight, 10" arc seconds.

W O B
 links to Part I
and  to Part II

Venus and Mercury - Part II: Sunday March 5, 2018

The secret to taking photos of stars and planets in the twilight is to choose a long focal length, a large F/ratio and not be afraid of a fast shutter speed - like 1/125sec. The sky is bright, surface brightness is high - so anything that primarily reduces surface brightness will increase the contrast between point-like sources, planets and stars, and the background sky. Be brave and try: every camera lens has its own story.

So Vicki and I returned Sunday evening just in time to catch the sunset:

And then we were surprised - we don't read the script!

Mercury is so much closer to us than Venus is, that Mercury's apparent motion is dominant for now:
(Mercury is 1.187 AU away vs Venus' 1.655AU where 1 AU is the nominal distance of the Earth from the sun, but really 0.992AU on Sunday since the Earth was at perihelion on Jan4)  Maybe the following graphics will help. Recall that planets move counterclockwise around the Sun.)

I credit John Walker for the model of the inner solar system.
We are looking forward to March 18 when the crescent Moon will be back in the picture.

W O B

Venus and Mercury - Part I: Saturday March 4, 2018

Vicki and I attended the Couchiching Conservancy AGM in the afternoon - a great event, a great cause, and a great collection of enthusiastic people. Afterwards, the sky was still clear so we went over to Bass lake, Line 15, on the east shore with a clear view 3km to the western woods to await sunset and to then try to see Venus and Mercury.

Sunset:

Venus and Mercury:

Venus has twice the apparent diameter of Mercury:
Equatorial Diameter    Mercury = 5.67"; Venus = 10.09"
By March 24, their apparent diameters will be nearly equal. Hope that there will be some good opportunities to observe.

W O B