Last Monday (1 December 2008), the Moon, Jupiter & Venus were in a very close conjunction in the sky. For the non-astronomers amongst you that just means they were very closely placed in the sky. In fact, they were so close that Venus actually passed behind the Moon! This week’s photo of the week if my favourite shot of the event, you can see the rest of my shots in this Flickr Set.

This week’s photo of the week was taken not long after Venus re-appeared from behind the Moon. You can see it just off to the right of the think crescent Moon. Jupiter is the bright point of light above and to the right of the Moon.

Jupiter, Venus & Moon Conjunction
on Flickr – Full-Size

For those of you interested in such things, here are the technical details of this shot:

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
  • Exposure: 1.5 sec
  • Focal Length: 70mm
  • Focal Ratio: F4.5
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Compensation: -1.0