Jupiter, Venus, and Mars in this morning's sky
All photos taken with our Nikon D300 between 6:45 and 7:15 from my driveway this morning. This exposure was about 20-seconds. It brings stars that were not visible to the naked eye into view. The Nikon was set to automatic aperture, manual focus. Same basic angle but with a 4-second exposure. Just for fun. This is Orion on the right side of the photo, the bright star Sirius on the left quadrant. The very bright Moon is just out of the frame the the top right. Sirius is very close to us in terms of space, a mere 8.6 light years away. The reddish bright dot in the upper right quadrant is Betelgeuse . It is 427.47 light years away. The three-planet alignment at 20-seconds. So many unseen stars pop out. Obviously, I am using a tripod in all these shots. A three-planet alignment at 4-seconds. There is another, fainter star here between Venus and Jupiter. That is Sigma Leonis , 214.02 light-years away. Again, the beautiful alignment at 7:15 this morni