During the peak of the astronomical event that was the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in December, a photographer named Garret who goes by gm_astrphotography posted a photo that sparked some debate to its authenticity. The fact is, the image is 100% legitimate.
Last night, photographers and stargazers around the world were treated to the Great Conjunction, a event in which Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer to each other in the sky than they have for hundreds of years. Countless photos were undoubtedly snapped of the rare sight, but photographer Jason De Freitas captured a particularly lucky one a few days ago showing the ISS zipping between the two planets.
With several astrolnomical events coinciding with the Winter Solstice, including the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction and the Ursids Meteor Shower, December 21st is poised to be a prime opportunity for practicing nighttime and astrophotography skills.
Planetary conjunctions are beautiful to photograph from Earth, but send a camera to another planet in the Solar System, and you can shoot a planetary conjunction photograph containing Earth!
Back on May 8th, 2003, the Mars Orbiter Camera on the Mars Global Surveyor had the rare opportunity to photograph both the Earth and Jupiter in the same region of space. It was the first planetary conjunction observed from another planet, with the Earth 86 million miles away and Jupiter 600 million miles away. The resulting image (shown above right), contains both planets, along with some of the moons.
This past Sunday, Jupiter and Venus put on a show by lining up with our moon (a …