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 two-segment panorama (with each panel a single exposure) with the 35mm lens and Canon 6D. Stitched with ACR with Perspective projection.
The waning crescent Moon near Venus at dawn on July 20, 2017, shot from home. Smoke from forest fires to the west adds the dark haze aiong the horizon. Earthshine is visible on the dark side of the Moon, despite the hazy, smoky skies. This is with the 85mm Rokinon lens - a single exposure for the sky and a mean combine blend of four exposures for the ground to smooth noise in the shadow recovered areas.
