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Peter Lowenstein
Mutare, Zimbabwe
03/01/2022
05:02 am

Equipment Details:

Tripod-mounted Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS40 in night scenery mode

Post-processing Details:

Image crop and size reduction before compilation of mosaic. Minimal application of Star Spikes Pro filter to make planets more clearly visible

Image Details:

Waning Moon & Four Planets 27 Feb-01 Mar 2022.
Unusually clear early morning weather due to poor rains enabled the Waning Crescent Moon to be observed among the four planets Venus, Mars, Mercury and Saturn at about 5 am from 27 February to 01 March. On 27 Feb it was high up in conjunction with Mars and Venus, on the 28th it had descended to midway between the Mars-Venus and Saturn-Mercury pairs and on 1 Mar it was in conjunction with and a short distance below Saturn and Mercury as shown in the accompanying mosaic and three images. It was very lucky that the entire group became briefly visible in darkness on the 28th before being encroached by early morning mist and low cloud. This amazing line-up of moon and planets was also only so clearly visible to Southern Hemisphere observers due to the angle of the ecliptic being steeper with respect to the eastern predawn horizon. More information at https://earthsky.org/tonight/planets-and-the-moon-morning-feb-27-28-2022/ and https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercury-and-saturn-southern-hemisphere-march-1-2-3-2022/