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Details:
Venus and Jupiter had a close encounter this morning: only 0.9° apart. They were very pretty in the dawn, commanding your attention despite the brilliance of the winter-season stars around them. Labelled and unlabelled versions.
In looking up Gemini's star names, I found that the names Mebsuta and Mekbuda (Arabic) refer to the paws of a lion at rest, with the former being an extended paw while the latter is drawn up close to the body. Leo the Lion is 2 Zodiac constellations to the east, so I'm not sure how these names ended up here. Pluto was discovered close to the star Wasat back in 1930.
The Perseids were also active. I saw 2 during the ten minutes or so I was at a local park taking pictures. The first was your typical meteor, but the second one was a brilliant fireball that plunged down past the heads of Gemini--of course, just outside the left edge of the picture.
Photo data:
Panasonic FZ300, 2x zoom (50mm EFL), iOptron SkyTracker Pro
... 1 x (f/2.8, 25 sec, ISO 200)
... date: Aug 12, 2025 5:00am MDT (dawn starts 5:09am)
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