I have been contacted by several readers who saw the "Five-planet photo" posting but missed the earlier posting about the photo which was under the subject heading: "Physicists teaching astronomy." I changed the subject line because the photo discussion was only tangential to the earlier discussion. Sorry for the confusion. Below is similar information to what was posted in the earlier message.
My astronomy class had a chili supper at sundown on April 25, 2002 so we could view the five planets Mercury through Saturn in the western sky. I took some photos of the event and posted them on my web space so my students could have access to them. You are welcome to a copy of the planets picture. The photos were taken with a 3.3 mega pixel digital camera, roughly 12 seconds at f/2.8. They appear at this URL...
The file: five.planets.jpg is pretty much straight from the camera. If you view it on screen with PhotoEditor or similar software you will probably want to increase gamma into the range of 1.8 to 2.5. It prints beautifully on an Epson photo printer, although you have to reduce yellow with some papers and reduce magenta with other papers. Matte paper with an Epson photo printer makes the sky a beautiful velvety dark blue. With my printer and this paper I have to reduce the yellow ink by about 15%.
The file: five.planets.57.pdf creates a 5x7 print with the date, title, and my name. At the final exam I gave each class member a print of this picture, suitable for framing, as a class souvenir.
The file: planets.guide.pdf is a drawing to help identify objects in the picture. For example, Pleiades is visible just right of Venus, and most of Orion is visible on the left side of the photo.
The other JPG photos at this URL show our chili supper.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817