2012 Winter Sky - A Feast for the Soul

This winter I braced myself a few nights in the bitter cold to witness and capture the night sky on my digital SLR. On the left is the result of my first encounter with a winter moon on February 9, 2012 as it rose in the east. I must have wasted close to hundred shots steadying the aperture and the controls. The results were terrific - this picture was taken handheld.

On February 22nd after a storm, one could virtually count the celestial bodies. It was bitter cold

and the ground was frozen. It was a moonless night - I could get the Orion and Ursa Major. The Ursa Major pictures were awful with light pollutants in the southern sky.

On February 26th, it was a brilliant spectacle with Moon surrounded by Venus in Pisces and Jupiter in Aries. These images were taken with a tripod without any shutter controls.

Tonight, March 3, 2012 was another spectacle on the North-west sky with Jupiter and Venus in Aries and Moon in the mid-heavens (very close to Orion). Lens used - Sigma 200 MM f/11.