Astrophotography Opportunites March 28 – April 2, 2018

On the evening of March 28, Uranus will be very close to Venus, appearing to be less than 1/10th moon width apart (which makes my photo above of the moon in total eclipse next to Uranus unexpectedly relevant). Venus will be visible first, bright in the sky after sunset. The much less bright Uranus may require a telephoto lens, binoculars or telescope to see.

Then on March 30 the moon will rise shortly before sunset, and be about six degrees above the horizon at sunset. That’s about how far it needs to be in elevation when it’s starting to be visible through less of our polluted atmosphere, so viewing it is clearer. You can use smartphone apps including The Photographers Ephemeris (“TPE”) and PhotoPills to anticipate where the moon will come up, so you can position yourself to have the best possible composition with the moon next to or above a landmark in the distance.

Then somewhere around April 1, give or take a day or two, the 9.4-ton Chinese space station Tiangong-1 will fall to earth. No doubt it will put on quite a spectacle as it breaks up!

For updates on the likely expected descent time and location as the space station’s orbit decays, follow Jonathan McDowell’s latest posts on Twitter: