Venus and Jupiter put on quite a show this week. On Wednesday night I took some photographs of the conjunction at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown while visiting a friend who lives on the estate. It was pretty cool, but there was no display of the aurora borealis like I witnessed another time I photographed a conjunction there. See it once, and I’ll expect it every time!
Observing the stars is another hobby of mine, and few things are better than being in a completely dark field or at a beach at night and being able to see all of the universe and not just the few brightest stars. I wished too that Lyndhurst didn’t have streetlights or lights on the mansion so that I could imagine what it like to have been there in the 1880s, with the turrets and finials of the house rising out of the darkness against the stars behind them.
Another time at Lyndhurst I photographed Comet Hale-Bopp, one of the brightest interlopers to our part of the solar system in recent times. It is visible in the second image down on this page.
All of the photographs on this page were taken March 14, 2012. Venus is the brighter of the two planets.
The steak in the photograph above was caused by an airplane.
Close inspection of the above photos also shows the stars of Orion the Hunter and Taurus the Bull.
After a long drive down a carefully-planned entrance road, during which time one only catches glimpses of the house, Lyndhurst comes into view as you immediately approach the mansion.
One of the beautiful huge old trees on the estate.
Very cool Rob! I think the 24th or 25th of March the Moon will also be involved with the planets.
Thanks, and thank you for the tip Jaime! I’ll keep a look out for that gathering.
nice zoom shots of teh planets at nite! as you already know im a fan of the astronomy too.
Thanks! yeah, I figured you might like this set.