Bless my lucky stars, I had clear weather for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. I gathered my gear, a Canon EOS Rebel T5 camera, 250mm lens, tripod and a jacket and headed to the Valparaiso Fishing Pier. I chose this location based on visibility and compass heading. I showed up about 20 minutes before sunset to set up and got the following shots.
As the sun set, the planets and stars finally emerged. I got 4 of Jupiter’s moons in the shot. On this first one I was shooting 250mm 3/5 sec, f5/6, with 3200 ISO.
For the next shot, some many minutes later, as the sky darkened, I was shooting 250mm, 1/8 sec, f5/6, 3200 ISO.
On the following night after the conjunction, I switched things up and changed over to my 300mm lens, 1/4 sec, f5/6, 1600 ISO.
I am pretty satisfied with the final results. The 300mm lens seems to have brought out some more colors in Jupiter as opposed to the 250mm lens. Sure, it would’ve been nice to have a telescope so that I could really get the details of Saturn’s rings, but I weighed the cost and I don’t believe I would utilize a telescope enough to justify the cost. I haven’t done very much astronomy photography with the exception of a full moon or a total solar eclipse, but I am happy with it just the same.
