Every year Venus passes close to the Pleiades cluster (M45), but only every 8 years a perfect conjunction is produced, crossing the cluster. The previous conjunction occurred on April 3, 2012, and the next one will be on April 3, 2028. The conjunction is due to a kind of resonance between the orbit of the Earth and that of Venus, although it is not always the same, since the resonance is not perfect. In fact, in 2028 Venus will pass through the cluster more in the centre than on this occasion. Each photo will therefore be unique, capturing a very similar configuration, but with small differences. The conjunction was visible from dusk, and continued during the first part of the night, while Venus was descending in height. Venus at sunset, with the Sun at 2º above the horizon:
Venus with the sun set, at -4º, below the horizon:
The photos were taken with a 70mm f/6.78 refractor and a Canon 60Da camera, at ISO 400, with an exposure time of 2" at sunset and 30" when the sun had set. Venus appears saturated, the phase is not appreciated, and its size in the photo is bigger than the real one because of the saturation. The photo is processed with Photoshop.
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