Pictures of the Smiley Face Conjunction
Wow, well last night certainly proved to be more stressful than was expected! After a beautiful and clear practise run on Sunday night, it was supposed to be crystal clear on Monday night too but high cloud and then thick low cloud came in during Monday afternoon which threatened to spoil the whole event for me.
News of the rare celestial alignment had made it to all the media outlets and it got quite a bit of coverage yesterday. I gave a short interview for the local Star 104.5FM radio station, and I saw it mentioned on news.com.au, and the TV news as well.
It did clear for me, just! Here’s the first of the many images I captured.
The picture above is available for purchase as a print, matted and framed, or even as a greeting card at RedBubble. Please read on to see more..
I decided to try somewhere different last night, not wanting to end up with the same type of shots from the night before with the same foreground. So I stopped at Green Point at a lovely reserve on the edge of Brisbane Water.
Some thick cloud rolled in and actually started raining on me for a short while, but after it cleared the clouds provided a lovely backdrop for some beautiful landscapes.
I discovered that our Solar System celebrates “Movember” as well, as can be seen in the pic below – with the face having a beard and hair 
I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, but while the conjunction was still visible I put up with it. I grabbed some reflection shots off the water before the wind picked up ruined the mirror-like surface of the water.
As the night wore on, longer exposures were needed to still capture the foreground and as a result the smiling mouth turned into an open/gasping mouth.
By about 9pm, clouds had covered the whole scene and it was time to packup and head home. I was up late processing the images and I’m feeling very gritty today but these alignments don’t happen often so I needed to make the most of it while I could!
This last image is a panorama of 6 images (with quite a bit of overlap), compiled using Auto Pano Pro. It’s reduced to 2000px wide for the gallery, but the original is almost 6000px wide.
After getting rained on for 5 minutes, attacked by mosquitoes, sniffed out by a wet dog who went for a swim just near me, stepping in water on the rocks (cause I left my red light torch at home!), and almost missing the entire thing due to clouds, I’m very happy with how the shots turned out.
Thanks for looking.
Related posts:
- Venus and the Crescent Moon Conjunction at Terrigal
Hi all Back on the 17th September 2009, there was...
posted in Astrophotography, Photography, Popular | 41 Comments
My name is Mike Salway and I'm an amateur astronomer and photographer. I'm the co-founder of 
Wonderful colors. I’m sure the amount of clouds can be annoying, but it added to some great colors in the sunset! GIves a great depth. I love the reflections on the water too!
Mike
Thanks Mike, much appreciated. I agree – while the clouds were frustrating at times, it did add drama to the scene and MADE the sunset colours.
I tried to get some more reflection shots when the trio were lower in the sky, but by then the wind had whipped up the water and it was impossible to get anything resembling the conjunction.
Thanks again.
Simply stunning Mike, I too think the colours are amazing. Sometimes cloud can be a bonus
IT WAS SOO NICE OUTSIDE YESTERDAY! IT WOKE ME UP…cause i was walking back home..haha =] IT WAS SMILING AT ME heheh =]
Thank you for sharing those wonderful pictures, you have such a talent with camera. Those pictures can make into pretty postcards.
G’day Mike,
Had a peek through your website in search of the karate videos. Got somewhat distracted by the fantastic photography. Reckon you could make a decent career out of this. Forget IT mate. Do the photographic thing. See you on the floor at BBMA.
Andrew
Congratulations, your photograph is today\’s (December 5) Astronomy Picture of the Day, and deservedly so!
Just saw your image at APOD. It\’s stunning!
Very Nice!! Thanks for all your efforts.
It was overcast here in St. Louis, MO USA, but I’m glad you were able to get the shots and share.
Perry
Congrats on getting such a fantastic photo of the smiley conjunction event. I saw it on APOD and it’s the picture of a lifetime! Very well done!
Outstanding picture Mike!!!
The best I’ve seen from all conjunction pictures!
Congratulations with your APOD page!
Nick
(aka Flying_Fox – your fellow CloudyNights and IceInSpace member)
You were Dugg too… lots of good comments here too:
http://digg.com/space/APOD_Smile_in_the_Sky
Mike
Thanks heaps for all your nice comments, it’s been quite a busy week already, but culminating in an APOD made it even more special.
I really appreciate all your feedback and encouraging words.
For those that don’t know what APOD here is, here’s the link to it:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081205.html
thanks for taking this picture of a smile in the sky i really like it even here in the philippines we saw it too at my city here in manila its so beautiful i’ll never forget this it was a great scenery thanks again
Beautiful photos, but I don’t understand why, in all but the first shot taken on 1 Dec, the moon appears to be full. How could it be anything but crescent?
Dick
Thanks for the great shot, and even greater tale. It is easy to forget what goes into making great art. I loved the shot so much i started clicking on the links below which led me to your story, and ultimate explanation. It seems to me now that behind every great photo is an even greater picture, often untold. San Diego, Ca.
Beautiful photograph Mike!!
Your APOD is my new desktop background…..as I’m sure it now is for thousands of others as well……hope that inspires you to do more!
Thanks,
Awesome photos and a great blog about getting them, too! I especially like the shot with the hair and beard. Very clever! Congrats for making it to “Astronomy Picture of the Day” which is where I found you. Keep up the good work. Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, USA
I know it’s long past the event, but I’ve only just got back from Uganda where I was without internet access and so have only now been able to research the extraordinary sight I saw whilst driving across a swamp at dusk in a remote part of Uganda on 1st December. Unfortunately, I was unable to photograph the “smiley face” until much later, but will never forget the sight at dusk. A Ugandan friend sent me a text in great excitement, telling me to go outside and look at it. Everyone realised we were witnessing something unusual. But how unusual is it? How often are the three planets in this conjunction? Thank you for your stunning photos.
Hi Margaret, thanks very much for your lovely story. What an amazing experience it must have been.
All the best.
hey friends i m sending few pictures hope u would like it.