Moon and Planets Above Northern Anatolia

Planetary conjunctions are among the most enjoying celestial scenes to observe with naked eye. Here in this early evening view above small Turkish town of Kaynasli the crescent Moon meets with three planets. Move the slider on the image to see the guide labels. As noted by the photographer “I took this picture from a vantage view point with to Kaynasli (near Black Sea). Here was the epicenter of an earthquake in 1999 with a magnitude of 7.2 (in Richter scale). North Anatolian Fault passes from the bottom of this valley through Kaynasli. To record the scene and planets so close to this hazy bright horizon I blocked the sky with my arm during the first 6 seconds of an 8-second exposure to get a properly exposed foreground and the sky. But I still had to sharpen the picture a little to bring out Mercury and Mars out of the haze”.