Wesley's Tool-Box

Planets shine bright even under a washed-out city sky, so I've gotten around to photographing them often. But it has only recently come to my mind that maybe I should take many of them in a single night and see how different the apparent sizes are at the (almost) same time. Last night was cloud-free, so I got around to actually carry it out.

So here's Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. Venus was considered, but the nearby buildings blocked the view and I wasn't dressed to venture outside at the time. I did photograph the Moon while it was close to Jupiter. But it's too big to display it along with the planets, so that'll be up on another post.

Jupiter is the biggest, as expected, and it'd always be the biggest round planetary disc found in the Earth's sky. Currently, Mars looks slightly smaller than Saturn without its rings. When it makes a close approach to Earth, though, it can look bigger than Saturn.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 1200mm (2x enlarged) - f/6.5
Filters: None
Time: in KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
Stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

Jupiter: 2014-03-10 23:38, ISO 160 - 1/80s, 17 photos
Saturn: 2014-03-11 05:40, ISO 160 - 1/40s, 15 photos
Mars: 2014-03-11 05:52, ISO 80 - 1/160s, 15 photos

Just after taking photos of Saturn last Thursday, I could see that Mars was right next to it, so I decided to point my camera at it, as well. This would be the first time I took photographs of Mars.

Closest approach of Mars to Earth for this year would happen in about a month (April 14), but it wouldn't be quite as close as some of the years, so it would look rather small - it would be 60% that of August 27, 2003 and 62% that of July 31, 2018. Still, I'll try to take some photos when that happens.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 1200mm (2x enlarged) - ISO 80 - 1/125s - f/6.5
Filters: None
Time: 2014-03-06 06:32 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
14 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

Saturn is the first planet I photographed with my Canon SX50 HS back in June 2013. The rings made it clear that I was shooting a planet, and served as a great first target. Since then, I got around to taking photos of other planets, satellites (natural and artificial), and stars.

In the meantime, Saturn was beginning to set too early in the sky, so I was no longer able to take new photos of the planet for several months. Now it rises in the middle of the night, up in the sky until dawn. I woke up this morning slightly early, and saw Saturn weakly shining against the brightening southern sky. I quickly set up my camera and got some shots.

The rings are still quite nicely visible around the planet. Compared to last year, Saturn seems to be leaning a bit more, making the rings look more like ears.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 1200mm (2x enlarged) - ISO 160 - 1/30s - f/6.5
Filters: None
Time: 2014-03-06 06:27 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
29 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

This is a recording of the flare from Iridium 20 satellite over at Yatap subway station in Seongnam.

Device: iPhone 5S
Settings: 30mm - ISO 1250 - 1/15s - f/2.2
Filters: None
Time: 2014-01-28 19:25 KST
Location: Seongnam, Korea

Sun is measured to be the most perfectly round sphere occurring in nature. But as the Sun sets over the horizon, it looks more "squished" than usual due to atmospheric refraction. This photo was taken when the Sun's altitude was merely 3.27 degrees.

You can still see the sunspots just fine - AR11960 (top; "sunspot 1960") and AR11959 (bottom; "sunspot 1959") are visible at the lower area. The light blemish at the lower right edge is the AR11957.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 1200mm - ISO 80 - 1/40s - f/6.5
Filters: Baader AstroSolar Safety Film
Time: 2014-01-26 17:25 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
79 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8