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Venus and Mercury at Dawn (Sept 22, 2023).jpg
This is Venus (brightest) and dim Mecury (low and to the left in the twilight) in the dawn sky as morning stars.
Venus was just 3 days past its point of greatest brilliancy and was at magnitude -4.7, while Mercury was at its point of greatest western elongation, and so highest in the morning sky for this apparition. It was magnitude -0.3. In fact, in autumn with the ecliptic tipped at a high angle we see Mercury at its highest in the morning sky for the year. So this is Mercury at its morning best for 2023 for my latitude of 51° N. And with Venus at its brightest as a bonus.
In between Mercury and Venus is Regulus in Leo, with the stars of the Sickle asterism forming the head of Leo above at centre. A diagonal line through Mercury, Regulus and Venus roughly defines the location of the ecliptic (Venus was actually 4° below the ecliptic at this time).
This is a single tracked exposure of 10 seconds at f/2.8 with the Canon RF15-35mm lens at 35mm on the Canon R5 at ISO 400, and on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Taken from home on September 22, 2023.
Venus was just 3 days past its point of greatest brilliancy and was at magnitude -4.7, while Mercury was at its point of greatest western elongation, and so highest in the morning sky for this apparition. It was magnitude -0.3. In fact, in autumn with the ecliptic tipped at a high angle we see Mercury at its highest in the morning sky for the year. So this is Mercury at its morning best for 2023 for my latitude of 51° N. And with Venus at its brightest as a bonus.
In between Mercury and Venus is Regulus in Leo, with the stars of the Sickle asterism forming the head of Leo above at centre. A diagonal line through Mercury, Regulus and Venus roughly defines the location of the ecliptic (Venus was actually 4° below the ecliptic at this time).
This is a single tracked exposure of 10 seconds at f/2.8 with the Canon RF15-35mm lens at 35mm on the Canon R5 at ISO 400, and on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Taken from home on September 22, 2023.
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- © Alan Dyer/AmazingSky.com
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