Not only ISON: Mercury and Saturn at Sunrise
Taken by Giuseppe Petricca on November 26, 2013 @
Pisa, Tuscany, Italy
Click photo for larger image
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Camera Used: NIKON COOLPIX P90
Exposure Time: 500/100
Aperture: f/5.0
ISO: 100
Date Taken: 2013:11:27 23:43:52
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Details:
In these last days Comet ISON has collected the whole internet attention. But, in those same mornings, another really great astronomical view could be seen, if someone would have got up an hour before sunrise.
The event was the really close conjunction of the planets Mercury and Saturn, that glowed really bright in the pre-dawn sky, bathed in the mixing colours of the twilight.
The picture is a composition, but it's absolutely faithful to the reality. I woke up for three mornings straight and managed to catch in each one the different position of Mercury. Then, thanks to Photoshop, I superimposed each different shot and erased everything except the innermost planet. The result is what everyone can see. I used as precision reference Saturn, Zubenelgenubi (Libra) and other stars in the picture. A brief guide to the pic: the uppermost position is where Mercury was on 25/11, then on 26th the couple of planets was only 3/4° apart (wonderful in binoculars!) and the lowermost is on the 27th of November.
Everything, captured from Pisa, Italy, has been imaged with a Nikon P90 on tripod, ISO 100, f5.0, and respectively 5" exp (for the background image) and 2"exp for each day-shot of the planets.
Photographer's website:
http://www.gmrphotographer.net
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