BF Hammer
Senior Member
Really you have opportunity to rise early on August 10th through the 13th and do this, but Jupiter and Venus will be at their closest on the 11th and 12th. Looking with Stellarium, I see the best time to take photos from 4:15 to 4:45am. Kind of low in the east sky, but then the sunrise ruins it as they get higher in the sky. Both planets will be close enough to capture in the same frame with a 600mm lens on a full-frame sensor. These are nice, bright objects and a reasonable short exposure time can capture them. A star-tracker not quite needed, but if you use one you might be able to underexpose and take 120 to 240 images for stacking in a short time. This often brings out the bands of Jupiter when you crop in.
In my Stellarium screencaps the red rectangle is the field of view of my Sigma 150-600mm C lens on a full-frame camera at 600mm.
In my Stellarium screencaps the red rectangle is the field of view of my Sigma 150-600mm C lens on a full-frame camera at 600mm.