Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I was pretty excited to see the Great Conjunction as I’m sure most of you were too, so I hoped for clear skies to be able to photograph it. On the 16th of December the crescent moon, Jupiter, and Saturn were fairly close to each other and it was a clear sky so I photographed it from my patio. It was cloudy all day but cleared pretty well but the wispy contrails and remaining clouds made the sky a bit more interesting. Can you spy the ski runs at Heavenly Ski Resort? X marks the spot.
It was clear on Monday the 21st so I went out with my long lens to get a closer look at the conjunction. I had to crop it in for it to be a good look even at 400mm, but I was able to see 3 of Jupiter’s Moons too. The 3 tiny dots are the Moons.
Saturn’s rings are not defined which is disappointing, but I saw the Great Conjunction! Did you look for it?
I wish all those celebrating Christmas a very Merry Christmas, and those who aren’t I wish you a very Joyous Week!
Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 and Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.1
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
That is amazing! The best one I’ve seen. You’re amazing! Gah, look at that! 😀
Aw, thank you so much, Joey! I appreciate that. In fact I’m going to float on that all night! 🥰
great capture of Jupiter especially!!!!
Thank you so much, Hannah! 😀
I got some good images, but they are on FB.
Ah, I’m not on FB. I have no doubt that you got some good ones!
Beautifully captured, Deborah!! It was cloudy on the exact day of the conjunction, the 21st. I was sorely disappointed. But I did get to see it on the days before and after. It was an extraordinary sight!!
I’m glad you got to see it just before and after the 21st! Thank you so much, Amy! xx
That is fantastic! I saw several like your second shot here and really like the scene to put it in context! Great job! I am a little confused … was that as close as they got? I thought they were going to overlap. It was cloudy here and later I heard our neighborhood lookout was busy with local spectators … so just as well.
If you looked at them with your naked eyes it might look like they merged, but in reality they were 456 million miles apart, but they were the closest they’d been together in 400 years and the alignment occurred at night which hasn’t happened in 800 years.
The shot of the neighborhood and mountains is my favorite shot too. Thank you so much, Denise!
Super photos, Deborah!!
Thank you very much, Jennie! 🥰
You’re welcome, Deborah!
Amazing shot! Your skills are showing again. 🙂 Merry Christmas and I know Santa has a big bag of goodies for them both.
Thank you so much, Judy! 😀
These are wonderful, Deborah. All the best!
Thank you, Belinda! All the best to you too!
Great photos! We had a clear night sky so we were able to see the two planets but I don’t have a long enough lens to get any good images. I was amazed to see photos showing Saturn’s ring and now to see your image that includes Jupiter’s moons… how great is that!?
Thank you so much, Janis! It was pretty neat seeing that I was able to pick up some of Jupiter’s moons too. They’re super tiny, but there. 😀
We have had cloudy weather and have not had a chance to see the conjunction. Merry Christmas to you and your family, Deborah. Beautiful photos.
Thank you so much, John! We’re going to start clouding up here too this week-end. Merry Christmas to you and yours! 😀🎄
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Sadly it’s been cloudy so nice to see your images.
Thank you so much, Brian! I’ve been skunked by clouds oh, so many times.
Loved the shots, Deborah. We did see the Conjunction both Monday night and Tuesday night but I don’t have lens enough to get a shot like this. That’s fine. It was cool to see. If we’d still been in Illinoi or Ohio, we probably wouldn’t have been able to see it because of clouds, so I count myself lucky. 🙂
I wish you and yours a most happy and blessed Christmas and a new year filled with blessings, one of which I hope will be us getting to meet. 🙂
janet
Thank you so much, Janet! I’m hoping we can meet in 2021 too! Merry Christmas to you and yours too! 🎄😀
That’s quite a bonus in capturing three moons as well. I didn’t know that’s possible with just a 400mm lens.
It was neat seeing the moon. I knew it was possible because years ago I was able to see them while photographing Jupiter. I am going to try to see if I can get the rings of Saturn to show up tonight.
Nice capture. I saw it on the 21st from my front yard in Florida, but I don’t have a long enough lens to capture it. A neighbor got it with a 600mm , extended 1.5. The rings were visible also. Pretty amazing.
Thank you, Suzanne! I’m glad you were able to see it and see the image or the planets through your neighbor’s viewfinder.
I’m going to try shooting it again this evening but change my settings a bit and see if I can capture the rings too. 😀
How cool! I didn’t really made an attempt to see it, but as it turned out we had a cloudy day over here, so it wouldn’t have been possible anyway. But now in your wonderful pictures I did have a glance. I wish you and your loved ones a merry christmas Deborah!
Thank you so much, Peter! Merry Christmas to you and yours as well! 😀🎄
Beautiful shots, Deborah! We did look for it but with the clouds up here in the mountains, their low position was not easily found.
Thank you, Cheryl! Hopefully it clears up a bit and you can see it. 😀
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Wonderful shots. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy here. We could see the moon and – very dimly – Jupiter.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
Pit
Thank you and Merry Christmas to you, Mary, and all those you love, Pit!
Nice images there Deborah, I’ve learned that to get the rings of saturn you have to underexpose since the planets reflect the sun light…it’s one of those full moon and landscape conundrums; expose properly for the moon and you get a totally black background. Expose for the background and you get a blown out moon….sigh…but hey PS layers and blends to the rescue eh? I’m gonna try for rings tonight, now that I kinda know how to use my tracker thingeee…LOL
That’s interesting, because last night as I lay in bed about to fall asleep I had a thought that perhaps under exposing or shooting later rather than my favorite blue period I would be able to see the rings? I was going to try it tonight. Now you’ve proved my thought is going in the right direction I am excited to try it.
Which tracker did you end up getting? I’ve had the Polarie on my short list for awhile, but need a second good ball head and kick myself for selling my RRS bh-40 now!
Yes! Went to bed under cloudy skies but woke up at 3 am and saw it out of my west window. Beautiful shots, Deborah 😍
Deb
Thank you so much, Deb! I’m glad you got to see it and from the warmth and comfort of your bed too. That’s lucky! 😀⭐
Hi Deborah, I am learning a great deal about the Great Conjunction this week. Exceptional photos in many ways! Capturing the moons…Wow! I wish you and your loved ones a peaceful, joyful season. I look forward to you sharing the beauty of our planet in 2021, Deborah❤️
Thank you so much, Erica! I wish you and yours the very same! I’m looking forward to a better 2021! See you there! 😀🎄⭐❤
Awesome shots, Deborah!!
Thank you so much, Donna! 😀
Excellent photo, Deborah. It was cloudy here on Monday but I had seen them as they were getting close. That will have to do.
That was my feeling about shooting it on the 16th I would have that image if it was overcast on the 21st. I’m glad you saw it as they were getting close though.
Thank you, Dan!