The alignment of six planets – Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Venus – this month has sky photographers abuzz.
While astronomers flock to places like the official Cattle Point Dark Skies Park in Oak Bay, Robert ‘Lucky’ Budd is stalking the stars from home not far away.
The Victoria writer and historian well known for award-winning collaboration books with renowned artist Roy Henry Vickers, Budd started sky photography in spring 2020 as a COVID-19 project.
Now he gets excited over clear skies and a waning moon.
“These days we’re having incredibly clear skies,” Budd told the Victoria News on Jan. 28. “There’s no moon right now. When you want to take photos of the sky you want to wait until it’s waning or there is no moon.”
He feels incredibly lucky to live near the ocean with its many dark sky sites, and his own personal south-facing view.
“We’re in a really rare thing where the planets are aligned in an arc,” he said, noting it’s something that hasn’t happened since 949 CE.
Every 40 years the inner three line up, but getting them all is a big deal.
He’s shot impressive images of Jupiter and Saturn – and its moons Thetys, Enceladus and Mimas – from his backyard, but the “star nurseries” keep calling to him.
Right now Orion is to the south just after sunset and the Orion Nebula is the closest “star-forming nursery to Earth,” Budd said. “You can even see these with the naked eye if you know where to look,”
The nebula is adjacent to Orion’s little sword, just below the three stars that make up Orion’s Belt.
The same constellation contains the Horsehead Nebula just below the first star in the belt. There, in the dusty shape of the equine, “baby stars are being born.” That one is not visible to the naked eye.
While clear skies are set to end as winter weather is expected imminently, Budd knows other opportunities will present themselves.
