How to Photograph Jupiter and Saturn's Great Conjunction with a Phone, Camera or Telescope

Lawrence Wardzala of Arizona took this striking photo of the moon and the planet pair on Dec. 17 with his handheld iPhone 11. The best time to see the close pairing is about an hour after sunset — from about 5:15 to 6 p.m. — low in the southwestern sky. Lawrence Wardzala

It seems the closer Jupiter and Saturn get the more delicate they appear. That's because we see them in twilight, and the bright sky tames their brilliance. Last night the two giants stood a little less than 0.5° apart alongside the waxing crescent moon. Tonight (Dec. 18) their separation shrinks to 0.3°.

Jupiter and Saturn peek out between the trees in this photo made with an iPhone 8 on Dec. 14. Eric Norland

Twilight is very useful when it comes to taking photos of the double-planet. In darkness, pictures show an inky sky and two dots, but in twilight you include silhouettes of trees and structures along with a colorful sky to give your images a sense of place. Seasonal lighting displays or a solstice bonfire can add extra dollups of jolly. My aim is always to record the scene to match as closely as possible what I saw with my eyes. 

Several of my friends have used cell phones to capture the planetary pair. While the resolution doesn't match a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera some phones come close. The newer ones offer excellent resolution, but even my iPhone 5 is up to the task. As Jupiter and Saturn get closer you'll be tempted to zoom in to spread them apart. A small amount of zooming is fine, but go gently otherwise you'll lose detail and sharpness. 

The best time to photograph the conjunction with your camera phone or a DSLR is about 50 to 75 minutes after sunset when the sky has darkened enough to see the two planets easily but still bright enough (and blue) to include a foreground scene. Just hold your phone with a steady hand, either vertically or horizontally (whichever offers the better composition), and click away. 

Not my strongest effort, but I share this as another example of including a scene in your photos. I took this on Dec. 17 around 5:40 p.m., 75 minutes after sunset with a DLSR and 35mm lens set to f/2.8, ISO 400 and a 3-second exposure. Bob King

With a DSLR you'll want to mount the camera on a tripod. With the moon out this week and all next, you can use your camera's autofocus to focus on the moon. Once it's sharp, Jupiter and Saturn will be too. Just remember one thing: after focusing, click the little switch on your lens to M so it's in manual mode, otherwise when you point it at the planets you'll lose focus as the camera struggles to autofocus on these tiny pinpoints.

I've been using a standard 35mm lens, ISO 400 and exposing for 2-5 seconds depending on the depth of twilight. That exposure is short enough that the planets don't trail but remain points of light the way you see them with your eyes.

My lens is a "fast" one. In other words its internal diaphragm opens up wide to let in lots of light the same way your iris opens up to let you see better in the dark. Focal ratio or f-number describes how fast a lens is. The smaller the number, the more quickly the lens will record a dim scene. Fast lenses typically have f-numbers of f/2 or 2.8. Mine opens to f/2.8. 

Consumer-oriented lenses generally aren't as fast with f-ratios of 3.5, 4 or 4.5. If you have one of these "slower" lenses, you can compensate by increasing your ISO — the camera's sensitivity to light — to 800 or even 1600. Experiment to see what works best for you.

You can also try using telephoto lenses to compress the scene and separate the planets better. Right now, a 35 or 50mm lens works nicely, but on the 21st the gas giants will be especially tight. Telephotos magnify the Earth's rotation, making planets and stars appear to move faster across the field of view. If you want Jupiter and Saturn to remain pinpoints you'll need to decrease the exposure time to around a 1.5 second or less and increase the ISO to compensate for the shorter exposure time. 

Saturn and Jupiter along with several of their moons show in this photo taken with a 94mm refracting telescope on Dec. 17 with a magnification of 26x — equal to a 1,280mm telephoto lens. Even at this power the planets appear small, but you can easily see Saturn's ring. Notice that in recording the fainter moons, planetary detail is compromised. Bob King

I'm excited to get pictures of the planets through my telescope, but as of Dec. 18, they were still too far apart to use much magnification. It's easy to magnify a single object, but two objects have to be very close together to magnify them both enough to see details. From Dec. 20-22, when they're closest, you can use high power to better record Saturn's rings and Jupiter's most prominent cloud belts. Because a telescope magnifies things even more than a telephoto, your instrument will need a tracking drive to compensate for Earth's rotation.

No surprise, but planetary moons are considerably fainter than their host planets, making it difficult to record both well in a single exposure. If you expose longer to capture the moons, the planets will be overexposed and lack detail. Knowing this, take both long and short exposures so you have both. To reduce the planets' glare in the telescope view I suggest starting just after sundown when bright twilight will tone down their brightness.  

If you have a telescope or know someone who does, take a close-up of the conjunction by holding your phone over the eyepiece. Bob King

To attach a camera to a telescope you'll need a simple but specialized adaptor. If you don't have one of those by now it's probably too late. Have no fear! You can also hold your cell phone camera directly over the telescope eyepiece to photograph them up close. Just point the scope at the two planets, center them in the field of view and then carefully hold your phone at the right distance from the eyepiece. When the duo appears on the screen, gently press the shutter button repeatedly. The more tries the better your chances of netting a good image. 

Finally, check your local forecast. If Monday the 21st looks cloudy, go out Saturday or Sunday night. Jupiter and Saturn will shine within 0.5° of each other through Christmas.

However you record the scene, whether you're eyeballing the conjunction, taking pictures or making a sketch, give yourself time to look and enjoy. No one has seen what you're about to see for nearly 800 years.