Astronomy

Below is a photo of the crescent moon and Venus that I took the evening of July 18 when they were separated by only about 2 degrees.  I used an 80mm ShortTube refractor (400mm f.l.), at a magnification of 20x, coupled with a Canon PowerShot A710 IS camera. The exposure was 1/30 of a second at f/8 and ISO 80.  It was difficult to determine a good exposure time because of the big difference in their surface brightnesses.

I had hoped to view and photograph Venus and Jupiter on the night of June 30 when they were only about 1/3 degree apart, but unfortunately it was cloudy. Here is a photo I took the following night using my 80mm refractor (at 44x) and Canon Powershot A710.  If you look closely, you can see the crescent phase of Venus.