astrobaja - 3-27-2012 at 10:47 AM
Hi all,
I'm sure people have been noticing the very striking conjunction of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter in the west these days!
Last night I shot some images of the moon, and Venus.
The shot here is of Venus through my telescope and a special UV filter which allows for some faint cloud detail to be seen. Otherwise it would just be
a bright featureless cloud covered globe. The shot is done at 9000mm focal length.
goldhuntress - 3-27-2012 at 11:38 AM
Very cool!
Barry A. - 3-27-2012 at 12:31 PM
Wow, that's great!!! Nice telescope---sure better than mine.
Do you have any shots of Saturn??
----and the one's you have of the moon must be spectacular!!
Barry
vgabndo - 3-27-2012 at 12:41 PM
WOW Astro...nice tools!
I was being amazed just last night by visual teaching about the size of the cosmos. With Hubble we've clearly seen into the "vastness" of space to
know of billions of galaxies when just 80 years ago no scientist could speak knowingly of anything beyond our own milky way!
Stunning!
Can you help us understand how close Sedna is in this image in cosmic context?
wessongroup - 3-27-2012 at 01:11 PM
Thanks much... glad your "up" at night ... a different breed... what were your night time temp's ... up there ... comfortable I hope ... 
astrobaja - 3-27-2012 at 01:50 PM
Vgabndo: thanks, wow explaining the size of the universe is a tough one, I don't know if it can even be done or if it could that a human mind could
grasp it!
Just in terms of our solar system the light from the sun is 9 light minutes old, Sedna where it currently is in its very elliptical orbit is 5 or 6
light hours away.
heres a good interactive site for the size of things, you can click on each object for a bit more info:
http://www.freewebarcade5.net/media/the-scale-of-the-univers...
astrobaja - 3-27-2012 at 01:55 PM
Barry I don't have any recent shots of Saturn, but heres a link to one of my moon shots that I took last month.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9606/aristarchusresize.jpg
Wessongroup, it was 5-6 degrees above freezing with a stiff breeze, but things are slowly warming up. The observatory and park are doing a night for
the public on saturday the 7th for Semana Santa. A bunch of astronomy undergrads will bring a scope to show the public some sights, I have voluteered
for this event too, should be quite a few people!! Anyone interested should come up! Could be pretty chilly though so dress accordingly!
astrobaja - 3-27-2012 at 02:00 PM
Mars is also just coming off opposition with Earth (close approach) so its quite bright and prominent in the east just after dark. Its got a distinct
reddish hue.
Heres a shot I took of the red planet some years back
vgabndo - 3-27-2012 at 03:20 PM
Oh, yeah. That scale of the universe is what I had in mind. WOW, this illustrates one of my common arguments against creationism. Anything that could
conceive and create that cosmos is unlikely to have forgotten to tell his only chroniclers here on earth about heliocentricity. 
I was curious when I read that about 2% more physicists and astronomers than biologists on the National Academy of Sciences believe in a god. 92.5%
don't. Mathematicians are the big believers, but I suppose it follows. A person's beliefs aren't likely to change long division very much! A
biologist's conclusions might be more influenced by belief, and if that were to happen, the biologist's loss of reputation should move him/her right
out of the National Academy, affecting the percentages.
Nature, Vol. 394, No. 6691, p. 313 (1998) © Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
What is your impression of astronomers? Are they unusually spiritual scientists?
David K - 3-27-2012 at 03:40 PM
Yah but God has warp drive!
Love the photos of distant bodies Mike... Thanks for posting them... Venus clouds, awesome!
SFandH - 3-28-2012 at 02:11 PM
Astro,
Did you take any photos of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction earlier this month? Is it an event that lends itself to telescope photography?
astrobaja - 3-28-2012 at 08:25 PM
Vgbndo: LOL no all the astromomers I know are either atheists or agnostics, only one that I know is Christian and she knows better to interpert the
bible in symbolic not literal terms! If ever I get some church group here for public outreach like with a group of young adults I will flat out
refuse to reinforce any nonsense about the universe being 6000 years old
David: you gotta get down here sometime to see the distant bodies in person!
Sf and H : no my scope the biggest possible field of view is less than half a degree, best bet is a small telephoto on a tripod for stuff like the
Venus-Jupiter conjunction
cheers
Mike
DianaT - 3-28-2012 at 08:32 PM
Those are just fantastic! Just BEAUTIFUL.
I liked Venus the best and John liked Mars the best---------umm, maybe there is a book title in that. 
I do hope we can make it up there sometime and share your vision of the universe! LOVE IT
Ateo - 3-28-2012 at 08:35 PM
Nice.
astrobaja - 3-30-2012 at 11:04 AM
Thanks Diana, glad to share them! Hope you get up our way one day I'll be happy to show you lots of faraway stuff, all the way from the moon to 9 and
a half billion light years away!
cheers
Mike
Mexitron - 3-30-2012 at 11:25 AM
Beautiful photos!