Select “SEE MORE” in the white bar below for a few more images from “The Great Conjunction”.
December 21st, when the planets would be “closest” was predicted to be overcast, so I drove about 90 minutes away on the 20th to capture what I could. Then on December 22nd, I took the photos that I could from my yard in Elgin. You can see how much the planets have travelled (in relation to each other) within that 48 hour period.
During the summer of 2019, I discovered that Jupiter’s 4 Galilean moons were large enough to capture with a reasonable camera, and a moderately long lens. Then in September 2020, the moon and Jupiter passed close to each other, and I captured some during that astro-phenomenon.
So when I read about the “Great Conjunction”, I already had a little bit of practice at photographing planets. I did attempt to capture the rings of Saturn, and discovered that I was just shy of being able to see Saturn’s rings with my 600mm on a 24mpxl full frame camera. However, I was determined to see what I could gather.
With Lightroom’s help, I am able to “zoom & enhance” just enough, but honestly, to capture Saturn’s rings you need either a telescope, a longer lens or a higher megapixel sensor.
