Conjunction of Moon, Mercury and Venus on December 12, 2012
January 13, 2013
Photographer: Mohamed Laaifat
Summary Author: Mohamed Laaifat; Jim Foster
The photo above showing the conjunction of the waning crescent Moon (lower left), Mercury (center) and Venus (upper right) was taken from Caen, France, just before sunup on December 12, 2012. A straight line more or less connects the three heavenly objects, demonstrating that the planets and their moons are similarly aligned with respect to the Sun. They all lie on the plane of the ecliptic. Note that Mercury and Venus are the only planets without moons. The burgundy stripe diagonally crossing the picture at bottom is a jet contrail.
Photo details: Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION; Camera Model: NIKON D5100; Focal Length: 70.0mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm); Aperture: f/4.0; Exposure Time: 0.500 s (1/2); ISO equiv: 100; Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows.