Thin Crescent with McGraw Tower, Venus and Star

pre-dawn sky event

MichaelStephenWills

Here are two photographs taken about the same time, 6:30 am, October 18, 2017, companions to the photograph shared earlier this week.

The moon rises later each day, so these shots include a larger disk closer to Cornell University.  Both components, the crescent and earth-glow, were dimmer this morning.    In each photograph Jenny McGraw Tower is visible.

Crescent, McjGraw Tower, Regulus, Venus
The star is Regulus, the brightest in the constellation Leo, close below the moon.  I don’t know the star close to Venus.

Here the tower is slightly to the right of the crescent, the arch of Schoellkopf stadium further right.  Among the trees on left, is the baleful red glow of Bradford Hall.

Cresent, McGraw Tower, Regulus
Click for another view of McGraw Tower from my Online gallery.

The tower is outlined by the lights of Uris library, presumably filled with early rising students.

The light of Regulus (“small king”),  below and to the right, is a composite of four stars moving together through space.  The position of Regulus on the path in the sky of the moon, planets and asteroids (called the ecliptic) leads to the occultation of the star by the disks of the moon and, less regularly, the planets and asteroids.

Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

24 thoughts on “Thin Crescent with McGraw Tower, Venus and Star”

    1. Thank You….it took some experimentation on October 17th to find the best camera settings. I found a higher ISO allows faster shutter time. The sky moves constantly and I do not have a clock drive on the camera tripod. A higher ISO causes more noise, but not enough to matter.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, I’m looking at the tower as this is written. Remember when the chimes were out of service. Next time we are up there will read the plaque one more time with the legal conflict in mind.

      Like

Comments are closed.