Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

These were taken on Monday night. The first was just the general view from my 'spot' while I was setting up. I liked the sun 'rays' radiating outwards like that...
The second is the best of the moon shots I took that night (need to get my SX50 back...), and the 3rd is the main object of the evening.

Download this one, and zoom in on Jupiter, the dimmer of the 2 planets. This was taken with a 75mm lens, and actually shows 3 of the moons!!! I couldn't believe that, when I first scanned the photos... This was my last frame of the evening, as high clouds were starting to glide in. You can see the nebulosity around Venus. I have several others which show the moons, but most of them are trailing... I forgot about shortening the exposure when using longer focal lengths. This one was a single second exposure.

I just checked the downloads, and unfortunately the moons are not very evident, but they are in my original.

Sunset over Waynesboro...

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The Moon in its serenity...

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Venus, Jupiter and 3 Gallilean moons!

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chazz4623 Loc: Prairieville, La

Great shots Phil, I pick up a tiny spark just to the left of the smaller object. Could that be one of the moons?? I really like the 'tone setter', would make a great enlargement for a patio piece, IMHO.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

It is very frustrating... On the original, there are 2 clear moons to the left of the planet, and another to the right. I will work on them some more, but they seem to have been lost in the upload, rather than the processing.

As for the first one, I was just setting up, and there were 2 of the 'sun rays' shooting up vertically, I just really liked the appearance. They were fading fast, and were past their best by the time I got the camera on the tripod. I tried to bring them out a bit more in PP, and actually revealed several others which weren't really visible to the naked eye. Not mine, at any rate!

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I am adding another couple, which hopefully will show the moons of Jupiter a bit better. I didn't do any noise reduction on these, in case that is trying to reduce the moons themselves!

Can you see me now?

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SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I can see Jupiter's moons (2 anyway) in the first of the second photographs.
Well done, Phil!

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Thanks! That was a struggle - they show up really well in the original, even in the jpeg exported from LR, but something about the upload spoils it.

We had a real cloudy day yesterday, but it was starting to clear up a bit during the evening. So, around 10 last night, I popped outside for a look, and there they were, hanging in the West, just waiting for me. Came back in, got dressed, got my camera stuff ready, and stepped back out. Nothing. Not a thing... I could see the moon, but the planets had totally disappeared. It's like an almost total cloud cover slipped back in during that 10 minutes!

I am hoping for another clear night as they get closer together, but the forecast is not looking good...

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Oh, you need to trick them. They're camera shy.
Peek through the curtains very carefully. Camera in hand but held behind you.
Then jump out and snap away before they can go hide. ;) :lol:

I do hope for clear skies for you. :-D

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Cool shots Phil.
Craig