Monday, March 2, 2009

Venus and the Moon are Dazzling

Only once a year does the two brightest objects in the sky move close together for this dazzling shot of the Moon and Venus.  

This spectacular and rare event occurred for a very short time on Friday evening about three hours after sundown.  I was very fortunate to capture it.  I did not have my tripod with me so I had to use a fence post as my tripod. 

By the end of March, Venus will disappear from Scottsdale's night view until the Spring of 2010.  

I have registered for a full moon photography course in May that is being taught at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  I hope the class will increase my ability to photograph the night sky with precision and detail.   

22 comments:

Olivier said...

très belle photo de ce croissant de lune, on dirait que la lune rigole.

beautiful photo of the crescent moon, it looks like the moon laughs.

nanak said...

great capture! this is beautiful

Jim Klenke said...

Great shot using your fence post. I would like a moon shooting class. My shots always end up as a big white fuzzy ball.

brattcat said...

Dazzling indeed. I got a glimpse of that magnificent pairing, too, before the snow clouds closed back in again.

cieldequimper said...

Fantastic! That's exactly what I saw through my window on Friday night!!! :-) I tried a picture but I only have a small camera so it came out... er... laughable!
This is great!

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Your ability to get this photo of the night sky shows why Arizona is the site of several major telescopes and observatories that take advantage fo the clear, dry desert air.

In fact, the planet Pluto was discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff in the 1930's. But is Pluto a planet, after all?

Sharon said...

Great shot Julie. I saw this on my way home Friday night and even called my sister Judy to tell her to go out and take a look.

Judy said...

That turned out great even without the tripod. Sometimes a tree or good old fence post is enough. I was glad Sharon called to tell me to look at the sky that night.

Pat said...

I played softball Friday night and every inning as I made my way to the mound I got to see this view out in right field. It's beautiful.

Lois said...

That is a gorgeous shot and you did a great job using the fence post!

Binoy Mathew said...

In India, on september i think, something wonderful appeared in the sky, a smily. where venus and jupitar looked as if eyes and cresent a smiling face. Let me check whether its possible to get it

Daryl said...

Stopped by to say thanks for the visit and kind comments .. its COLD and SNOWY here today the benches are completely covered in snow, I stopped to shoot some pix of the snow in the park before heading to the office

Bergson said...

The moon laughs to see this little star

Nancy said...

I saw this last night (from San Diego) and it was fantastic. I can never get shots that turn out this well!

Marie-Noyale said...

Without the class you are doing really good already!!!

Gerald (SK14) said...

We had a lovely moon last night but my photo-attempts were rubbish.

Lowell said...

Congratulations! Wonderful photo. We saw the same thing here while out walking the dog...but by the time I got home and got the camera, it was all hidden behind trees. I'm glad that you were able to record this wonderful event.

Unknown said...

Just beautiful, Julie! I've seen this too! Great shot! And yes, 'our' skies on the same day were quite a coincidence! :-)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photo! I'm afraid I didn't know about this -- thanks for sharing it.

Kala said...

I send a comment earlier but got an error message about duplication so I hope i am not sending multiple comments but I was just saying earlier that i took a shot of the moon and venus as well but my picture was not as close up as yours - you did good in getting such a closeup shot! =)

Lisa Wilson said...

I love this! Thanks for sharing.

Binoy Mathew said...

ya ofcourse, I enjoyed this photo very much. Thank you for visiting my blog and your valuable comments...

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