347. Identified Stars #2

Almost half a year ago (well, minus 1 month), I was out with a friend and a star chart in some dark hills of Southern Germany to identify constellations in the winter night sky. Two nights ago, I repeated the project with some other friends on a dark hill rather in the middle of Germany. It took a while to get the map ready, but here it is now:

It was an amazingly successful enterprise: 24 constellations identified plus one very bright star from a 25th, two planets, the milky way, quite a few shooting stars - and not even a moon to interfere.

274. Morning/Evening Star - Venus Anadyomene

It's been quite a while, but now I've got another star which is - in two ways even - no star:

Probably the most famous portrayal of the so called "Venus Anadyomene" - Venus rising from the sea: This is copied from Sandro Botticelli's painting "Nascita di Venere" (The Birth of Venus).

When the planet Venus is visible in the sky, it is often called "morning star" or "evening star". Obviously, it is no star yet often the brightes object in the morning or evening sky. It is always close to the sun - depending on its position rising shortly before or setting shortly after the sun. I knew I had to pay a tribute to this "star" at some point throughout this project, so here it is now. :)

P.S.: Late post as usual... This is yesterday's star.

192. Identified Stars

Last night, I've been out to enjoy a very clear and starry night sky. The north wasn't really dark enough with the lights from several towns around. But the south was full of stars - and not even a moon to outshine them. :)

Here are the stars, constellations, and planets which I was able to identify without a doubt (red):

175. Fake Stars

At first, I was a little disappointed when it seemed that today's star would be 'just a photo'... But then I realised that what I basically did was take a picture of things that really aren't stars but look like they are here:

The moon, Venus, and Jupiter - all together and extraordinarily bright - when I got back from work tonight. :)