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Community photo entitled  by Victoria Buckman on 10/23/2023 at Waldo, FL, USA

On 10/23/2023 08:17 pm by Victoria Buckman| Waldo, FL, USA

I'm very new to astrophotography. I don't own a telescope, but my neighbor does. He showed me Saturn for the first time a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe my eyes, that I could actually see the rings! Since then, I've been following EarthSky for updates on what else I can see in the night sky, and its kept me in awe.
When I learned there would be a conjunction of Saturn and the Moon, I wanted to try to create a photograph to represent this moment for me to enjoy and recall the first time I ever saw Saturn. When he set up the scope, a Meade LX90 8-inch, and panned over to the Moon to let me see the craters, I was struck by the detail. I felt like I could almost see motion on the surface, but that's just my overactive imagination.
It also surprised me to see just how quickly these planets move through the telescopic view, it made me feel very small. We quickly attached my Fuji XT4 camera to the telescope and I shot some frames, probably too many, but I was excited. I knew how I wanted these to come out as a final photo and you're looking at it. Not scientifically accurate as far as distance between the planets, but the intent was for my own enjoyment and not for scientific study.

Camera:
Fuji XT4

Telescope:
Meade LX90 8-inch

No tracker
1/180
ISO 1250

The Moon was captured in 4 separate images then stitched together in photoshop (the 8" telescope could only fit partial moon in view).
Saturn was captured with many frames, as it moves fast through an 8" scope. I seleted the clearest two frames and merged together to depict the best view of Saturn and its rings as well as faint views of its Moons (I think).
These were then composited together to give a representation of where Saturn might appear next to the Moon, although this is not true to scale or degree of position because I wanted to create a single image that would represent the conjunction on Oct 23 for my own enjoyment and not scientific study.