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Earthlight, Jupiter and Saturn
The sun is setting in the west. The Moon moves east and setting in the west, too. If one compares the position of the Moon relative to the prominent planets Saturn and Jupiter, because they appear close to each other, it is no longer below the two, but to the east next to them.
Yesterday, crescent moon right below Saturn and Jupiter © Julian Köpke 
Today, Moon east of Saturn and Jupiter © Julian Köpke Temporarily there was much less haze today, so that the earthlight (in german: aschfahles Mondlicht) of the moon in the right hand image is very well visible. Yesterday you could only guess. With the spotting scope the crescent moon shows up well detailed.
Waxing crescent moon, 72h old © Julian Köpke The spotting scope allows to photograph the two planets Saturn and Jupiter with a full frame camera in a single field of view at lowest magnification (x30, which is about 800mm focal length). The structure of the planets ist better outlined with short exposure times (see insets), the Galilean moons of Jupiter need a longer one.
Saturn and Jupiter, 4d before Great Conjunction © Julian Köpke -
Great Conjunction
Thanks to the hint of a friend, I was again aware of the rare constellation of the approach of the two planets that I had observed during the summer. The 21st by December, Jupiter and Saturn were to be only 6 arc minutes apart. Unfortunately, the weather forecasts are not favorable, which is why I hardly figured out a chance to see anything about it at all.
Unexpectedly, the clouds disappeared during the day to retreat th the edge of the Rhine Rifle, where we were allowed to see them in the evening. At the beginning of our photo session we watched the Rhine Valley with our bright and long reaching optics.
Power plant Mannheim © Julian Köpke 
Nightfall over Cathedral of Speyer, distant view with my spotting scope. Every now and then birds were flying through the scene. © Julian Köpke First Lorenz discovered the crescent moon in the clouds. It could have sunk our courage, in fact as darkness fell conditions steadily improved.
Waxing crescent moon, 48h after New Moon. © Julian Köpke At the time, it was still too bright to see the planets.
Waxing crescent moon, 48h old. We were watching out for the planets Jupiter and Saturn that are close by 6' these days (Great conjunction). © Julian Köpke Finally we managed to take pictures of the crescent moon with the the planets Jupiter (the brighter and bigger one of both) and Saturn close to each other before the increasingly yellow moon disappeared in the dark clouds. There was even a little of the ashen moonlight to be seen. Wonderful.
Yesterday, crescent moon right below Saturn and Jupiter © Julian Köpke -
Moonset in Alling
It had become very late last night and my tiredness did not let me think clearly. I also didn’t know what happened after I went to bed. It could easily have been the end of a human being.
With the warm morning sunlight from the left the winter fields of Alling in December were wonderful to look at. With my senses clouded, I thought the moon would rise. It took me a long time to figure out he was going down.
Moonset - Landscape near Alling © Julian Köpke -
Dark Earth, blazing sky, vast universe
Every time the moon wanes and an ever narrower crescent becomes visible, we enjoy the sight of an almost perfect circular disk with a narrowly illuminated edge. Due to the nearby elevations of the Kraichgau around the Königstuhl, the moon rises here in Rohrbach later as the announcements of the observation programs indicate. Yesterday, short after 6 o’clock in the morning I obtained the following image, drunk with sleep, no tripod, camera settings still correct for Japan, and an empty battery. Some of the treetops of the pine forest are faintly illuminated and can be seen directly under the moon.
Near New Moon in Heidelberg © Julian Köpke The photographic repetition the next morning with an even narrower crescent moon spurred my ambition on. The visibility should start about 50 minutes later. After the end of daylight saving time at three o’clock in the morning it was almost the same time on the clock as the day before.
If it hadn’t been for the clouds ! No moon visible at all. The clouds divided the world into three parts with visible stars and darkness of the night still over the city: dark earth, blazing sky, and the perceptible vastness of the universe.
Dark Earth - blazing Sky - vast Universe © Julian Köpke 
Dark Earth - Blazing Sky - Vast Universe © Julian Köpke 
Dark Earth - Blazing Sky - Vast Universe © Julian Köpke -
Partial lunar eclipse
Night clouds may be a creative opportunity, although they generally lead to limitations in the visibility of a celestial event. Last evening was such an opportunity. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
There is enough structure in the image to please one’s eye. The color of the Moon has a rusty tone outside the central shadow of the earth.
A cloudy evening in Heidelberg with a silent partial lunar eclipse. © Julian Köpke The composite of this capture with a mood picture on site is technically not completely satisfactory. I should have made more different exposures of the night sky.
Heidelberg partial lunar eclipse © Julian Köpke
