The Moon and the Pleiades, Edited

As a follow-on to my last post, I've taken my first pass at using some of the shots I took that night at differing shutter speeds to create a composite image with a higher dynamic range, representing both the sunlit and Earthshine portion of the Moon similar to how it appeared to the human eye. Combined with the stars of the Pleiades, this is close to what I had in mind for the image. A lot closer than the raw image in the previous post. 😃

As always, click on the image to see large. 

The Moon Meets Venus, Mars and Saturn in Morning Sky

Living in a neighborhood full of old, tall trees, it takes getting out of the neighborhood to have a clear horizon. White Rock Lake is a favorite destination so I picked a spot on the west shore from which to shoot this beautiful conjunction between the crescent moon, brilliant Venus above with Saturn and Mars between the two. I think the reflection of the moon and reeds in the foreground made for a more interesting image.

Read more about the conjunction and see photos of it from around the world at EarthSky.org.