The Sky at the Stone Barn

I spent another interesting evening at the Stone Barn property of Allens Pond Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary in the company of my son and grandson, who are both photographers (my grandson is learning) photographing the nights sky.  Leaving home to travel out to Westport/Dartmouth, the sky had become very cloudy and overcast, however, arriving in Westport, there were only occasional clouds around.  An interesting fact is that driving down the road, prior to turning into the road leading to the Stone Barn, we were in Westport, Massachusetts, and once we got onto the road leading to the barn, we were in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Gibbous Moon

my son observing the sky, and Venus



Venus surrounded by clouds

 

the sky at nautical dusk



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The s

Orion and Venus

Venus in the Pleiades

We arrived just after sunset and in the sky was a large waxing gibbous Moon (the full Moon will be in 2 days) that was lighting up the sky. By the wayhe Moon light the buildings and scenery so I did not have light paint.

In the Western sky, Venus was brightly shining, but there was a bank of clouds coming in out of the Northwest.  The clouds gave an interesting affect to the sky, especially during nautical dusk and the clouds intermittently covered Venus and the Moon.  The clouds continued to rule intermittently through the area, however, we still had extremely great views of the sky, the stars and constellations.

Big Dipper and Polaris above the Stone Barn

Star Trails

I would have liked to spend at least an hour, killing start trails, but because of some time constraints and the bright moon, I was only able to do a 20 min. exposure of the Big Dipper and Polaris over the top of the Stone Barn
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Venus and the Pleiades Conjunction

This spring has been great for conjunctions in the sky.  In February, Venus, Jupiter and the Moon were in conjunction in March.  There was another conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon.
The following is from the NASA Science News Website:
"This week the second planet from the sun will pass directly in front of the Pleiades star cluster. It's a rare sunset conjunction that's easy to find with the unaided eye, but best seen through binoculars or a small telescope.
The action begins on Monday evening, April 2nd, when Venus enters the outskirts of the little dipper-shaped asterism. Look west at sunset for Venus--it's the brightest thing around--then scan the area using binoculars. The conjunction will be immediately clear. The best evening to look is Tuesday, April 3rd, when the brilliant planet glides just south of the dipper's bowl. Venus exits by the handle on Wednesday, April 4th. Venus passes through the Pleiades in this way about once every 8 years.
To say this is a mixture of dissimilar things would be an understatement. This week the second planet from the sun will pass directly in front of the Pleiades star cluster. It's a rare sunset conjunction that's easy to find with the unaided eye, but best seen through binoculars or a small telescope.
The Pleiades are elusive. You rarely find them on purpose. They're best seen out of the corner of your eye, a pretty little surprise that pops out of the night sky when you're staring elsewhere.
Venus is just the opposite. Dazzling, bright enough to cast faint shadows, it beams down from the heavens and grabs you when you're not even looking.
The Pleiades, also known as the "Seven Sisters," are a cluster of young stars. They formed barely 100 million years ago during the age of dinosaurs on Earth from a collapsing cloud of interstellar gas. The biggest and brightest members are blue-white and about five times wider than our own sun.
Because of their distance, about 400 light years away, the Pleiades are near the limit of naked-eye visibility. When Venus joins them in conjunction, it will look like a supernova has gone off inside the cluster. Venus's thick clouds reflect so much sunlight, the planet outshines every thing in the night sky except the Moon. Strangely, though, the Pleiades do not look puny in comparison, just delicately beautiful. "
I took the above picture this evening, utilizing a 300 mm lens with a 1.4 converter and the only post processing that I performed was noise reduction.  The rays of Venus occurred in camera.
So if you have a chance, and the weather allows it, go outside tomorrow, April 3, 2012, around 9 PM and look in the Western sky for Venus brightly shining in the Pleiades.