I made time to go and see the conjenction of Jupiter and Saturn. I’d originally planned to drive half an hour from home to Llano del Jable, on the island’s spine, but the observatory webcams showed that the clouds were higher than usual, so I went all the way up to the observatory. I haven’t done that for quite a while, but it was worth it.
The longer drive meant that I had to leave home sooner in rather a rush. Sunset won’t wait, and I knew the planets would set fairly soon after the sun. That meant I didn’t have time to load up the telescope, just my usual photographic gear. All these photos were taken with a standard DSLR, and I’m no great shakes at astrophotography, but it was fun. It also helps to have a very transparent atmosphere, which you do tend to get at the top of La Palma. That’s why the observatory’s here.
The moon was half full, which made it harder to photograph the planets but the clouds in the Caldera were very pretty by moonlight. And I managed to photograph Orion rising too.
I haven’t done much writing this week. Mostly cooking and eating, to be honest.
