Venus-Mercury Conjunction 8° from the Sun
Taken by Helio de Carvalho Vital on September 12, 2019 @
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Camera Used: NIKON COOLPIX P900
Exposure Time: 10/600
Aperture: f/6.5
ISO: 100
Date Taken: 2019:09:12 17:50:11
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Details:
The weather helped and I was able to get some photos of the Venus-Mercury close conjunction at today`s sunset. Only 27 arcminutes separated Venus (m=-3.9) from Mercury (m=-1.0), seen on opposite sides of a ligthning rod (used as reference point to find them), as the pair was still deeply inside the Sun`s glare (at 7.8° and 8.2° elongations only, respectively). Catching Mercury at sunset with the camera was a challenge, since it is currently 15 times dimmer than Venus. All photos were taken around 17:48 +- 3 min. (UTC-3h) with a Nikon CoolPix P900 camera at manual mode and settings: texp=1/60s, F=6.5 and ISO 100. Magnifications used ranged from 40 to 120 times. Only the camera (on a tripod) was used. The last item is a combination of a simulation of the event, made with the Sky Chart Freeware, with a low-power photo that shows where the planets were photographed. What could possibly make this contribution interesting is the fact that planetary conjunctions so close to the Sun (8°) are very rarely reported, let alone when only a digital camera is used with no aid of guiding or setting circles.
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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