DATE TIME: Feb 10, 2013 1800-1830hrs AST
LOCATION: Little Lepreau Basin, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada
WEATHER: Clear, -7 degrees Celcius, slight breeze.
EQUIPMENT: Mounted Canon Rebel Xsi DSLR camera with 18-55mm and 75-300mm adjustable lenses.
ATTENDANCE: Myself
REPORT: Heard through spaceweather.com that Mercury was going to be at its best elongation at around the date of this report. The weather has been absolutely terrible for observing for most all of the winter, so was amazed and pleased when the weather warmed up (relatively), and skies cleared with very little wind, and actually had time off work to get out and do some observing without my canoe flying at me in 100km/hr winds.
Sure enough, went down to the end of my drive-way and there was Mercury, low in the west at around 1800hrs with the twilight sky still fairly bright. By the time the camera was set up, on the garbage bin, the sky darkened just enough that another faint 'star' appeared directly below Mercury. Later discovered that this faint 'star' was Mars.
This was the first time for my new Canon Rebel Xsi. Its much newer than the old Canon Rebel, and what really sets the new one apart is the digital view screen. This makes focusing much easier, and it shows in the images.
No satellites or shooting stars were seen during the reporting period.
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| Image taken with Canon Rebel Xsi DSLR set to 20 second elapsed time, focal length 39mm, ISO 1600. |
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| Image taken with Canon Rebel Xsi DSLR set to 5 second elapsed time, focal length 220mm, ISO 100. |
