Pre-Dawn Eastern Skies

 

The eastern sky during the pre-dawn hour of Saturday, August 31, 2024 was chocked-full of celestial features. This image, captured from the Bowman Meadows housing development at 4:05 am CDT, is a 10 second exposure at f/4.5, ISO 125, 24mm focal length. At right center is the constellation Orion. The bright object at center upper is the -2.27 magnitude planet Jupiter. The slightly less bright object below and left of Jupiter is the 0.74 planet Mars. Above and right of Jupiter is the constellation Taurus. At left in the image is the constellation Gemini.

4:06 am. Rising just above the horizon at about the same time was a thin crescent moon. This is a 10 second exposure (which created the bright Earth-shine appearance) at f/4.5, ISO 125, 70mm focal length. Note the ground fog at center. Nikon Z6ii camera.