Last night Saturn, Regulus, the Moon, Praesepe (M44 star cluster), Mars, Pollux, and Castor were all lined up in a row from south to west! Cool. I got some pictures, but of course my pictures don't do justice to the real sight! It was awesome. I never really paid much attention to Praesepe before last night, but now I'm glad I did! It's really beautiful through any old pair of binoculars. I urge you to get out and take a look tonight. If you don't have binoculars, it's still a great view, but binoculars really bring out the clump of stars in Praesepe, surrounded by a diamond shape of four brighter stars.


Last night's Moon and crater photo, of course!
ISO speed rating: 80
Shutter speed: 1/50 sec
Aperture: f/8.0
Zoom (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Time taken: 8:44 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


Left to right, Saturn, Regulus, Moon, barely visible Praesepe cluster, Mars, Pollux (and a yellow/green flair on the lens of my camera from the bright moonlight).
ISO speed rating: 200
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Zoom (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Time taken: 9:12 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


Left to right, Moon, barely visible Praesepe cluster, Mars, Pollux, Castor.
ISO speed rating: 200
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Zoom (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Time taken: 9:14 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


This image is out of focus, but it's the only one I took that clearly shows where Praesepe is compared to Mars. Mars is the reddish ball in the lower right corner and Praesepe is centered in the photo (surrounded by the four brighter stars making a diamond shape).
ISO speed rating: 400
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/3.5
Zoom (Focal length): 100mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Time taken: 9:23 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS


This is Praesepe in focus, but taken at moderate zoom - hence the star trails become apparent in this 15 second exposure. You have absolutely got to get out and take a look at this with binoculars. And don't forget to pan around the rest of the sky while you're at it. (Especially north, where there are some dense star fields right now.)
ISO speed rating: 800
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/4.0
Zoom (Focal length): 192mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 640 x 480 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Time taken: 9:27 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS