Triple Planetary Alignment - 2013 May 26
The planets Jupiter, Venus and Mercury form a conspicuous triangle during evening twilight on May 26. This the climax of a several-week-long triple planetary alignment as all three bright planets appear together in the evening sky. A bright meteor appears just above the Chiricahua Mountains. The foreground is illuminated by light from the rising Moon in a separate exposure taken two hours later.
In the image above, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury appear from left to right. The figure to the right can also be used to identify the planets on May 26.
Complete details on this celestial event can be found on the Portal to the Universe blog post Triple Planetary Alignment. To preview how the event will change from night-to-night, see the Triple Planetary Alignment Viewing Charts.
For photos of this event, see Triple Planetary Alignment Gallery.
Technical Details
- Object: Triple Planetary Alignment - 2013 May 26
- Date/Time: 2013 May 27 at 02:56 UTC
- Location: Bifrost Astronomical Observatory, Portal, AZ
- Tripod: Bogen 3001
- Lens: Canon EF-S18-135mm IS lens at 85 mm
- Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i (600D)
- Exposure: 1/2s, f/8, ISO 800
- File Name: Triple13-0144w.jpg
- Processing (Adobe Camera Raw): Noise Reduction, Lens Correction
- Processing (Photoshop CS6): Curves
- Original Image Size: 3454 × 5179 pixels (17.9 MP); 11.5" x 17.3" @ 300 dpi
- Rights: Copyright 2013 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.