I'm frequently on my deck at night watching the stars. Lately I've been fascinated the number of planets visible in early evening. From Venus popping out in the west near sunset, eastward to Jupiter, with Saturn and a very bright Mars, a giant arc can be imagined tracking the ecliptic of obits around our Sun. The Moon moved into the display last week and on Sept. 11, 2018. I made this panorama of 3 exposures with my Canon 5DSr .

I try to imagine the distances, building a mental 3D model, and my mind is stretched further, back to the vast plane of dust our system once was. Lying before my eyes is that very system mapped by planets in a line. Here are the distances from here on earth, for that evening, and the photograph for your enjoyment.

Planetary Distances: Sept. 11, 2018

Mars 46,199,036 miles

Saturn 910,167,491 miles

Jupiter 541,523,351 miles

Venus 45,102,158 miles

Moon 232,467 miles

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