Last night, I was engaged to photographers and star-watchers around the world Great coupling, An event in which Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer to each other in the sky than they were hundreds of years ago. Undoubtedly countless photos have been taken of the rare, but photographer’s, sight Jason de Freitas I grabbed a particularly lucky photo a few days ago showing the International Space Station zipping between the two planets.
While Jupiter and Saturn appear close together in the sky once every 20 years or so, the last time they were as close as they were during the Great Conjunction He returned on March 4, 1226, Or 794 years old.
While planning to photograph the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, de Freitas realized he could also include the International Space Station in the frame.
“I was incredibly lucky to discover that I could see the trajectory of the International Space Station traveling through the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn,” says de Freitas.
After a great deal of planning, on December 17th, de Freitas drove an hour – “a very short distance in the scheme of things,” he says – to a location where everything would be perfectly aligned with his shot.
At around 9:54 PM from Jellore Lookout in New South Wales, Australia, De Freitas pointed to the Pentax 67 and Takumar 600mm f / 4 on the planets and captured a 10-second show on Fujifilm Provia 100f. Tracking was performed with the Skywatcher NEQ6 Tropical Device.
The image above is what resulted. Here’s a closer crop in which you can see the planets and moons of Jupiter more clearly:
De Freitas also used a Nikon D750 and Tamron 70-200mm f / 2.8 to capture digital video of the event:
“It is probably the most unique shot I’ve ever taken,” says de Freitas. “[S]One way or another it all worked out for the night. Beyond this thrilled.
“The timing of this was until the second and I still can’t believe I pulled out.”
If you are interested in printing this awesome photo then you can buy one Here.
Earlier this year, de Freitas was involved An inside look at how he portrayed astrophotography on medium sized film (And the 35 mm film sometimes). You can also find more of De Freitas’ work Their website And the Instagram.
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