Observations of the Sun, the Moon, and Planets 2023

Observation Overview | Special Events | References

It was not until 2018 that I began to observe the moon a little more in detail and to document my "more important" observations. On this page, I collect, somewhat unsystematically, my observations of the moon, the sun, and the planets from 2023, which might be of interest to other beginners and are therefore described here.

Note: Older observations are listed on the "Astronomy" overview page. The same applies to deep sky observations.

Observation Overview

Date 2023	Objects Observed	Location	Devices Used	Eyepieces and Cameras Used	Remarks	Further Remarks
Jan 3	Moon, Mars	MH	Leica binoc.	Sony RX10 M4	Took photos of the Moon and Mars together	Mars at a distance of 1° 25' from the Moon center
Jan 18	Jupiter, Mars	MH	eVscope 2		Took photos of Jupiter and Mars	Poor results, Mars not published
Feb 4	C/2022 E3 (ZTF), Moon	MH	eVscope 2		Took photos of the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and of the Moon	The longer I exposed, the longer the comet became (because it moves differently than the starry background)
Feb 7	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	MH	eVscope 2		Took photos of the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) ( 2x)	Ditto
Feb 12	Jupiter, Venus	MH	eVscope 2		Took photos of Jupiter and Venus	Poor results; Venus may give a hint of the crescent (disk not round)
Mar 24	Moon, Venus	MH		Sony RX10 M4	Took photos of the Moon and Venus together	Crescent of the Moon and Venus 3° apart
Apr 30	Moon	Erk	Leica binoc.	Sony RX10 M4	Took photos of the Moon (Golden Handle)	Photographed the Moon with the Golden Handle
May 23	Moon, Venus	Erk		Sony RX10 M4	Took photos of the Moon and Venus together	Crescent of the Moon and Venus rather close (a little more than 3°)
Jun 2	Sun	MH	Vespera	with solar filter	Took photos of the Sun (sun spots)	Compared my sun spots with a photo from the Internet (The Live Sky)
Jun 9	Venus	MH	C5	24, 16, 7 mm	Looked at the Venus	Venus showed a crescent.
Dec 17	Moon, Saturn, Jupiter	MH	SM127 eVscope 2	32, 24, 16, 10, 7 mm Sony RX10 M4 (32 mm)	Looked at Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter; took photos of the Moon (1:50 method); took also photos of the Moon and Saturn with the eVscope 2	Jupiter with moons. Saturn close to the Moon (a little more than 5°).
Dec 18	Moon, Saturn, Jupiter	MH	eVscope 2		Looked at Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter; took photos of the Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter with the eVscope 2	Jupiter with bands. Saturn with ring. Moon nearly half.

All observations done in Mühlhausen/Kraichgau (MH), except for where noted otherwise; SM/F = Sumène/France, Erk = Erkerode/Germany.

Special Events

January 3, 2023: Mars Close to the Moon (Sony RX10 M4)

Mars left of the Moon (about 1° 25' from the moon center)

Mars left of the Moon in clouds (about 1° 25' from the moon center)

Mars left of the Moon (about 1° 25' from the moon center)

Later (after 9 p.m.), Mars was on top of the Moon and just 1° away from the center of the Moon:

Mars on top of the Moon (about 1° from the center)

(Simulation Images Courtesy of SkySafari Astronomy, www.simulationcurriculum.com)

January 18, 2023: Jupiter (eVscope 2)

Jupiter, perhaps with Great Red Dot (Mars not shown...)

February 4, 2023: Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and Nearly Full Moon (eVscope 2)


C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - 1 min	C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - 2 min	C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - > 4 min*

Nearly full moon with clouds	Ditto	Ditto

Nearly full moon without clouds	Ditto	Ditto

*) Since the telescope tracks the star background, the comet gets longer during the observation time, because it moves differently than the stars.

February 7, 2023: Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) (eVscope 2)


C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - 48 s		C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - 340 s*		C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - 120 s

*) Since the telescope tracks the star background, the comet gets longer during the observation time, because it moves differently than the stars.

February 12, 2023: Jupiter and Venus (eVscope 2)

Jupiter with stripes (left); Venus is not a round disk (right)

March 24, 2023: Crescent of the Moon and Venus (Sony RX10 M4)


Crescent of the Moon		Ditto, a little larger...

Venus very tiny...		Later, Venus was easier to see (as well as a hint of the ash-grey light).

April 30, 2023: Moon with Golden Handle (Sony RX10 M4)

Moon with Golden Handle (Apr 30, 2023)

May 23, 2023: Crescent of the Moon and Venus (Sony RX10 M4)

Crescent of the Moon and Venus close together (a little more than 3°; May 23, 2023)

June 2, 2023: Sun with Sun Spots (Vespera)


Sun with sun spots, slightly processed		Ditto, sharpened		Comparison photo from the Internet (The Sky Live)

December 17, 2023: Crescent of the Moon

Skymax-127 and Sony RX100 M4


Moon mirrored horizontally		Ditto, somewhat darker

Sony RX100 M4 held to the 32 mm eyepiece.

eVscope 2


eVscope 2, somewhat fuzzy, sharpened		eVscope 2, somewhat fuzzy, sharpened

Saturn

December 18, 2023: Near Half Moon, Saturn, Jupiter


eVscope 2		eVscope 2, sharpened