Mars looms large and bright

Amy, dog and I cruised westward on Ohio Route 502 tonight to find a suitable spot to view and photograph Mars, which is closer to Earth than it's been in nearly 60,000 years. At magnitude -2.9, the planet is second only to Venus in brightness.

Just a few hundred feet into Indiana, we made a right turn into a tomato patch so I could set up for a time exposure. The best image out of many attempts is offered here. In this fisheye lens view, I composed the rising Mars over our PT Cruiser, and used an LED flashlight to lightpaint the foreground during a 30 second exposure.

The Milky Way stretched across the entire sky, but while very clear to our naked eyes, was too faint for the Coolpix camera to capture. I only get to see the deep sky a few times a year, so it was a treat to stare at the star-encrusted sky while I waited for my long exposures.

And how fitting that we observed Mars in a tomato patch. 2003 is the 25th anniversary of the release of the cult film classic Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

Update: I composited my memory of the appearance of the Milky Way into the photo above.