Shadow Casting by Venus (composite)

From the photographer: “A few days ago, at the peak of the Geminid meteor shower 2018, as I was shooting the meteors by my camera, I noticed bright Venus on the horizon. I think it has a magnitude of minus 5! I remembered a statement by Patrick Moore, which says, “There are only three bodies in the sky capable of casting a shadow on Earth. The sun and moon are pretty obvious, but it was the third that fascinated me-Venus!” Therefore, as the sky was dark enough in Maranjab desert, Iran, I decided to show this shadow casting of Venus alongside the Geminid meteor shower! I took this Silhouette picture. We know a Silhouette view just can be seen if we have a bright source of light behind foreground objects, and the light source light them from backside as we see them. This year, Geminid meteor shower was tremendous. When the Venus was rising, the number of meteors make me feel surprised! I just got at least 20 meteors (some of them are Orionid) in one and a half hours shooting on my view field by a 50 mm lens on full frame Canon 6D (each frame has 10″ exposure). At every 30 seconds, one meteor could be seen in the whole sky! I hope you like this shot and get the feeling that I had experienced!”

Technical details: Photo composite, Stack of 23 frames, Canon 6D
© Nima Asadzadeh