Painting is just another way of keeping a diary ~Pablo Picasso

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Night Sky from Mt. Diablo

Tonight my photo meetup group did a nighttime star shoot at Mt. Diablo.  This was in conjunction with the monthly Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society's monthly viewing, so we were able to stay in the park after dark.  In the center of the photo is Venus.  I also got to see it through a huge telescope (cannon-sized) and it's actually a crescent right now.  Venus, like the moon, rotates on its axis at the same rate that it spins around the sun, so it has a light and dark side just like the moon.   It's almost rising and setting with the sun right now, thus the crescent shape, and in a few weeks will actually eclipse the sun.  I was told this only happens every 100 years.   I also got to see saturn, including its rings and three moon!  Very cool!

2 comments:

This is Belgium said...

how unusual, beautiful !
anni

Anonymous said...

You are amazing.
Thanks for posting this. Beyond beautiful.