Objects in the Evening Sky––March 2023

There have been multiple opportunities to photograph planets and other objects in the evening sky during the month of March. Previously I posted photos of four planets and an asteroid in the western sky during twilight using a 24mm wide angle lens.

Orion Nebula (M42).
Orion Nebula (M42).

I tried to capture the four planets again later in the month but was foiled by the bright twilight making it difficult to see the planets that were close to the horizon. So I shifted my strategy and chose to capture just two planets–Venus and Uranus–that were close to each other and high enough above the horizon to not be troubled by twilight. These images were shot with my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E lens.

Venus and Uranus in the evening sky (28 March 2023).
Venus and Uranus in the evening sky (28 March 2023).

I then turned the camera on the Orion Nebula (M42) to see how well this lens would work on long exposures. The results weren’t too bad–but not great. It will take some practice on my part to get sharp focus and reduce shake and vibration on the tripod and star tracker.

Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)

A faint comet is currently moving through the sky in the constellation Orion. Unfortunately, it is too dim (mag. +8) to seen by the unaided eye but binoculars, a small telescope, or most digital cameras will be adequate to see it.

Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) moving through the constellation Orion.
Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) moving through the constellation Orion.

As the comet was moving near the belt of Orion I captured about one hours worth of exposures and then did the typical stacking using Deep Sky Stacker. Post processing was done with rnc-color-stretch.

The comet is located to the right and slightly below the belt of Orion. The future path of the comet can be found at in-the-sky.org.

A Thin Crescent Moon Reflected in the Lake

Although it’s fun to photograph the Full Moon, I actually prefer photographing a thin crescent Moon, usually just a day or two after the New Moon. The thin crescent is brightly lit while the remainder is softly lit by light reflected by Earth, hence known as Earthshine. It’s also known as DaVinci Glow. As well, the Moon does not overwhelm the night sky so that stars can also be in the photograph.

A wide-angle view showing the crescent Moon just above the horizon with Venus shining brightly above. The stars of Orion, Pleiades, and Hyades are also visible.
A wide-angle view showing the crescent Moon just above the horizon with Venus shining brightly above. The stars of Orion, Pleiades, and Hyades are also visible.

During late Spring and into early Summer the crescent Moon sets in the west-northwest and this makes it a good target for shooting at Upper Lake Mary. The long and narrow lake is aligned WNW–ESE so that the Moon casts a brilliant reflection that can run the length of the lake.

I’ve shot this several times over the last few years but never tire of it. All it requires is enough of a gap in the clouds for the Moon to shine and for light winds so that the lake surface is relatively smooth.

A zoomed-in view of the crescent Moon with reflection on Lake Mary.
A zoomed-in view of the crescent Moon with reflection on Lake Mary.
As the Moon settles closer to the horizon a thin veil of high clouds adds some interesting texture to the scene.
As the Moon settles closer to the horizon a thin veil of high clouds adds some interesting texture to the scene.

Two views of Orion

Orion is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky. It was named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. Its brightest stars are Rigel (Beta Orionis) and Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), a blue-white and a red supergiant, respectively.

Hanging from Orion’s belt is his sword which contains the Orion Nebula, also known as M42. This is a spectacular object that can be clearly identified with the naked eye as something other than a star. It is one of the most easily photographed Deep Sky Objects and can be captured by most modern digital cameras.

The first image of Orion was taken last winter on an evening with a very thin layer of high clouds. This cloudiness was enough to cause a beautiful glow around the brighter stars in the constellation. Some nebulosity is visible in both the belt and sword of Orion. (Nikon D700, ISO 1600, f/5.6, 120 seconds, 80mm).

Constellation Orion (February 2015)
Constellation Orion (February 2015)

The second image was taken this spring (Nikon D700, ISO 1600, f/4, 10x120s, 200mm) and is zoomed/cropped on the Orion Nebula (M42).

Orion Nebula--M42 (April 2016)
Orion Nebula–M42 (April 2016)

I recently heard someone say that a reasonable goal of astrophotography is not so much to produce the best image, but to produce a better image than your previous best. In this case, I can claim some success.

And, for comparisons sake, here is a richly detailed image of the Orion Nebula captured by the Hubble Telescope and posted on the Astronomy Photo of the Day (APOD) site.

Photographing the night sky with the iOptron SkyTracker

As mentioned in a previous post, I now have a tracker mounted on my tripod (iOptron SkyTracker). With this gadget, I can take longer exposures of the night sky without star trails. Exposures of 30 to 120 seconds typically give me the best results. Shorter exposures don’t gather enough light and the longer exposures may show a hint of star trails.

There was an evening a bit over a week ago with mostly clear skies. Very thin cirrus clouds were moving across the area. I was unable to see them while photographing but inspection of satellite imagery at the time showed that there was some high-altitude moisture moving across the area. The result? The thin clouds produced a faint glow around the brighter stars in the constellation Orion. I like the result.

Orion and M42. (ISO1600, f/4.0, 120s exposure)
Orion and M42. (ISO1600, f/4.0, 120s exposure)