astro life

First astronomical event for this month of April. Conjunction of planets Saturn and Mars. Taken at April 1, 2020, 2am. 

Here are some of my photos of Waxing Crescent Moon before it reaches the First Quarter phase.               One of my goal was to locate the Lunar X. When someone posted about it online, I quickly grabbed my Celestron Travelscope 70 to capture the famous lunar detail, which was already visible before the First Quarter phase. The  Lunar X  (also known as the Werner  X ) is a clair-obscur effect in which light and shadow creates the appearance of a letter ' X ' on the rim of the Blanchinus, La Caille and Purbach craters. The  X  is visible only for a few hours before the first quarter, slightly below the  lunar  terminator.

This night, I challenged myself to hunt the thin young moon while the sun is still above the horizon. Luckily, I found it in no time and waited until the sun sets to be able to capture the earthshine.  I also observed Planet Venus and Pleiades M45 Star Cluster which is also visible at western portion of the sky. Lastly, I took photos of the Winter Triangle which can be found overhead after the sun set.                                     Hi there young moon!                       My youngest moon shot. Only 2 days old.       Earthshine Venus and Pleiades already visible and bright after the sun set last March 27, 2020. Winter Triangle already visible overhead after the sun set. It signals the end of the winter season and the start of the autumn season. Winter Triangle is an ...