Planetary Conjuction Over Table Mountain

Planetary Conjuction/Vandenberg Rocket Launch as Seen From Table Mountain Observatory

This picture was taken on June 20, 1991 some 20 minutes after an evening rocket launch from the
Vandenbery AFB some 153 miles to the west of Table Mountain. The wind driven contrail of the
rocket is seen low in the picture on the left and right, but mostly obscured by the trees and the
24-inch observatory dome.The interior of the 24-inch is illuminated by a red lamp, and the top of
the telescope is just visible.

Above the telescope dome are the three planets, Mars, Venus and Jupiter. The brightest object is
Venus and just to her left is Mars. Slightly to the lower right is Jupiter. In the extreme lower left is
the moon illuminated front shutter of the 10-inch Schmidt telecsope facility.

A Pentax K-1000 35mm camera with a 28mm wide angle lens set at f/5.6 was used to take this
4 second on Kodak GOLD 1600 ASA film.

Table Mountain Observatory, operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is located just west of the
town of Wrightwood, California at an elevation of 7500 feet.

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