The waxing crescent Moon, and Venus (just above the mountain ridge) and, to the right, noctilucent clouds glowing low in the north over the Waterton River at the Maskinonge picnic area in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta on June 17, 2018. The Moon is beside Regulus in Leo. There was no wind this night, rare for Waterton. This is a high dynamic range stack of 5 exposures from dark to light, blended with Adobe Camera Raw. Taken with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 20mm lens. Additional contrast enhancement applied using Zone System Express 5 Photoshop extension and “Enhanced Contrast” function.
A grand display of noctilucent clouds at dawn on July 21, 2017, looking northeast and east with the 26-day-old thin waning crescent Moon just rising, and Venus bright as a “morning star” at right. This was the best NLC display of the summer to date, though many nights were plagued with cloud to the north or forest fire smoke. But seeing NLCs as high as this in the sky and well to the east, as at right is rare. This is a 7-exposure HDR blend with ACR with the 35mm lens and Canon 6D.
