Pic of the Day

 Alignment of Moon, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury
January 1st, 2019

                                         Alignment of Moon, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury

                                                      identified with Mercury magnified

                                                 (both images best viewed when enlarged)

     Mercury is always hard to spot.  Especially where I live, here in North Alabama.  But on January 1^st, 2019, I was on the causeway between Titusville, Florida and Merritt Island NWR awaiting the rising sun.  The sky was dark, the waning moon shown bright, but so did two bright planets.  I assumed the planets to be Venus, and Jupiter and when I checked the positions of the two planets I discovered I was correct.  But, I also saw from the chart that Mercury was in the morning sky, below Jupiter and very low to the horizon (as always).   Sure enough, I found it just above the horizon in the glow of dawn. I used binoculars to find Mercury, but once found I could easily see it with the naked eye.

     I was so excited!  The last time I remember seeing Mercury was at least 50, maybe 52 years ago.  An exception of course was the Mercury transit on November 10, 1973.  Mercury was easy to see as it crossed the face of the Sun. (with filters of course).  

     I quickly set up my tripod to take a photo of the event.  I did a number of exposures and settled on this one to post.  The first image shows the moon and all three planets, but mercury is hard to see in the wide-angle shot as it is much dimmer than Venus and Jupiter.  If you can view the image full screen you can see Mercury half way between the left side of the image and the middle of the image in line with the clouds on the horizon. In the second image I have enlarged Mercury, and named each of the planets and moon.  Mercury is inside the white circle.

What a great way to start the New Year.  I hope its not another 50 years before I see Mercury again!  By the way, Florida has a great horizon line for seeing Mercury. Lucky Floridians.

     If you’re interest, Mercury will transit the Sun on November 11, 2019.  The entire transit will be visible from the eastern half of the United States and most of it visible from the entire continent. The transit will last over 5 hours, very long for a transit.

     If I am lucky enough to see this transit it will be my last.  Though there are two more transits, one on November 13, 2032 and another on November 7, 2039 neither will be visible from the North America.  The next transit visible from North American that will be, May 7, 2049. 

Camera: Nikon D800, Lens: Nikkor 16-80mm, f/2.8-4   set at 16mm
Exposure:  2 seconds @ f/5.6,  on tripod 

Pic of the Day

White Ibis, Plegadis chihi,  with Horseshoe Crab:  Merritt Island; Titusville, Florida

Pic of the Day

American Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus: Blue Heron Wetlands; Titusville, Florida

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f4, 1/500 second @ f7.1

Pic of the Day

 White Ibis – A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway; Titusville, Florida:  This trip was certainly the year for photographing ibis.  Ibis seemed to be everywhere and were very photographable.  This ibis was photographed on the causeway that leads from Titusville to Cape Canaveral just before entering the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  I stopped along the causeway to photograph gulls, but the sky was overcast and the images looked very dull.  Soon, the sun began to break through the clouds and the birds on the causeway came alive.  All of a sudden, birds began to appear from all directions to feed in the shallows of the Indian River. 
   As I shot images of gulls, an ibis flew onto the scene and began searching for prey.  It was not long until it was pulling horseshoe crabs out of the water.  The antics of the ibis were most interesting. With each catch the ibis would toss the crab into the air, catch it with its beak, then crunch down breaking the crabs shell.   The tossing and crunching continued for about forty-five seconds per crab.  Once broken and cracked to the ibis’ satisfaction, the crab went down its gullet. The gulls that were ever present stayed close to the ibis and continually tried to snatch its catch…..to no avail.

Nikon D300, 500mm f4, Digital Capture ISO 200, 1/2500 sec. @ f6.3