I had hoped to get more photos of comet PANSTARRS, but with my telescope, the best lens I have, instead of a zoom lens. However, schedule conflicts and weather interferred. So, while I lost the comet, I found this instead:

It's great. You can use it to tell the time as well as how cloudy it is. It makes a great calendar, and if you stare closely at it, it will invoke awe and wonder regardless of your age. Steeped in legend, it is a great source of metaphor. And it works without Internet or GPS.

jg

Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter, January 21, 2013

On Jan 21, the moon and Jupiter appeared near each other. I was looking through my photos today and discovered this one. You can see cloud bands of Jupiter and lunar detail in one photo. This event repeats on Feb 17, though the objects will be a little farther apart, but viewable in a pair of binoculars. I photographed this with a 3-inch telescope at prime focus, focal ration of f6.4.

This image shows Jupiter without any reduction in pixel size.

jg