Mastodawn

The young crescent moon occulted Mercury today...as seen from the mountains of southern New Mexico.

First photo is a telephoto shot of the moon only a minute after it uncovered our innermost planet. This was taken in bright twilight as a wind and dust storm was easing up.

Second photo is a wider angle shot ten minutes later that includes Venus in the bottom third of the frame. The evening twilight sky colors are pallid because of the dust storm clouds billowing a mile below me on the floor of the Tularosa basin.

#Mercury #Moon #Crescent #Occult #Occultation #Astronomy #Twilight #Evening #Photography #Astrophotography

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glasspshr Feb 19

@KrajciTom Tom, what scope did you use on the close up?

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TomKrajci 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️Feb 19

@glasspusher

I used this lens:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/542154-USA/Pentax_21760_SMCP_DA_300mm_f_4_ED.html

...and a matching Pentax 1.4 DA 1.4x converter to get about 420mm.

This lens is meant for SLR bodies, and my body is a mirrorless Sony, so I needed an adapter for spacing and to go from the Pentax (K?) mount to the Sony E mount.

It's a heavy lens, and in this rig it's manual focus and aperture. That's ok, I only shoot astro stuff with it.

But it's a surprisingly sharp lens. I really don't see any sharpness gains when I stop it down.

Yesterday evening the jet stream core was overhead. Focusing on the crescent moon was amusing. It looked like it was under a stream of water. Best focus found? Ummmm, yeah, sort of.

Pentax SMCP-DA* 300mm f/4 ED (IF) SDM Autofocus Lens for Digital SLR

Buy Pentax SMCP-DA* 300mm f/4 ED (IF) SDM Autofocus Lens for Digital SLR featuring Weather & Dust Resistant. Review Pentax null

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glasspshr

@KrajciTom nice! I recently bought a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 and was impressed by the sharpness as well