The Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter

I have been all consumed with the great conjunction news. Going outside every night when it’s not cloudy to try and capture these two planets and the moon near them. I did not have a lot of luck the first night as I never had used manual focus or a tripod much at all, so I struggled with both. I was determined to reach some level of mastery before the big event on Monday 12/21/2020. What is the great conjunction? Glad you asked! It occurs when Saturn and Jupiter appear closest in the sky. It is rare, last time they got this cozy was 400 years ago. The two planets are bright and visible to the naked eye in the night sky. This is a once in a lifetime incredible and exciting event. I armed myself with my best photography equipment and headed out to my backyard as soon as it got dark, around 6pm. I was excited to spot moons around Jupiter the first night though not visible to the eye, I captured them through my 600mm lens. The second night Saturn’s rings were visible in the photos! I could hardly believe it. Hope you are able to observe this event for yourself on Monday, otherwise check out my photos.

All these were taken with Canon DSLRs EOS 90D or 77D. Various lenses: Tamron 600mm for the planet closeups, Canon 10-22mm, or Canon 18-135mm.

References NASA article, university of Exeter video, How to photograph

Friday 12/18/2020