Crescent Moon and Venus - 5 (2012)
On the evening of 2012 May 22 (MST), the crescent Moon (illuminated by earthshine) and the planet Venus made an attractive conjunction just after sunset. The pair appeared over Limestone Mountain from Portal, AZ. The observatory dome in the foreground is owned and operated by Roy Furman.
Just to the upper right of Venus is Elnath (Beta Tauri) the second brightest star in Taurus and one of the 50 Brightest Star in the sky.
For more images of interesting planetary alignments, see Conjunctions Gallery. An almanac of other major sky happenings for each year can be found at Calendar of Astronomical Events.
Technical Details
- Object: Crescent Moon and Venus - 5 (2012)
- Date/Time: 2012 May 23 at 03:13 UTC
- Location: Bifrost Astronomical Observatory, Portal, AZ
- Mount: Bogen 3001 Tripod
- Lens: Nikkor 18-105 VR at 70 mm
- Camera: Nikon D200
- Exposure: 2s, f/8, ISO 400
- File Name: MoonVenus12-0150w.jpg
- Processing (Adobe Camera Raw): Vignetting Correction, Exposure Adjustment, Noise Reduction
- Original Image Size: 2592 x 3872 pixels (10.0 MP); 8.6" x 12.9" @ 300 dpi
- Rights: Copyright 2012 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.