Four Planets, the Moon and a Telescope


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On Dec. 31, 2008, four bright planets were visible after sunset: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and of course Earth in the foreground. The photo was taken from the catwalk of the 2.7-meter Harlan J. Smith telescope at McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of West Texas and shows the dome of the 2.1-meter Otto Struve telescope.
Special thanks to Bill Wren for arranging this visit.


Camera Canon EOS 350D
Lens Tokina 12-24 mm zoom at 6.3/20 mm
Date 31 Dec. 2008, approx. 18:50 CST
Exposure time 4 s


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© 2008 Axel Mellinger
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