What to do when you wake up at 5 a.m.?

[usonian]

Grab the camera!


Mercifully, I got some sleep afterwards.
Moon, Venus and Jupiter showing.
Heavily edited, more art than photography, but what the heck?

I just wanted to capture the moment.

Mars and Saturn are up there, but in the noise.
Hoping to get better at this.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Grab the camera is right!

I'm wondering what camera you used for this photo.

Keep on keeping on!

[usonian]

5. I am learning how to use the new camera

I got a Nikon Z5, specifically for the new 20mm. f/1.8 lens.

I pushed the ISO way up to 51,200 (WOW), and I'll try other things as I learn.

This is cropped a bit and as I noted, edited like crazy, but my general goal in photography is to "show it like I saw it".

Mother nature presents some real abstract art, and I'll share some of that as I go through my files.

Thanks!

[2naSalit]

2. We finally had a clear sky this morning...

And I got to see all of them. I caught the whole works before all were up. I have mountains obscuring the lower part of the horizon. The moon had just cleared the peaks with Mars and Saturn easy to find at that point. By the time I finished making coffee, the rest were in view. They make a sweeping arc across that part of the sky. Really cool to see.

Eventually, Venus and Jupiter will come close to each other as the moon exits the scene.

[usonian]

7. Excellent

I was preoccupied with the camera gear to get out the binoculars.
What else can you do with a perfectly clear, (boring as heck), day?
Clouds were made for photographers, and vice versa.

I save snaps of the Yosemite webcams.
https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm
I won't post the live links to individual webcams here because they would render in real time (including night time)
And the "High Sierra" webcam on Sentinel Dome is too often offline.
That's where I get some out of this world "photos" of clouds around Half Dome. and snow.

OK, here's a spoiler.

Note the date stamp. April 12.
Yosemite Conservancy
I'll share some cloud snaps later.

[Achilleaze]

3. Neptune is out there, too, close to Jupiter

But not visible to the naked eye -- requires a telescopic lens of some sort. But that's where it is in the sky now...near Jupiter.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. Wow, that is gorgeous!

[usonian]

6. Thanks! Happy to share. nt

[elleng]

8. GREAT you caught them!

I was awake, but they were not visible to me.

[usonian]

9. Keep trying, only if you are already awake that early,

and if the weather forecast is for clear skies. It's a pretty sight.
More, if you have binoculars.
There are easy to read star maps here:
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/

The month has lots of nice things to see.

I let NASA and people with telescopes and image-stacking software take most sky photos for me. In 2020, the comet was so bright that I had no excuse not to try. After some image tweaking this is from the slow-ish Coolpix.

Grainy, but what the heck, "I was there."

[elleng]

10. Would if I could, I'm often awake at that time.

'Mostly cloudy' forecast for tonight.