Venus (at left) and Jupiter close together in the dawn sky, and to the east of Scorpius, here at right, with reddish Antares between the trees. This was January 26, 2019. The two planets were closer together earlier in the week but clouds got in the way! Illumination is from the waning gibbous Moon off frame at right. This is a stack of 5 exposures for the ground to smooth noise, and a single untracked exposure for the sky, all 10 seconds at f/4 with the 50mm Sigma lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 500. Shot from the back acres of my home site in Alberta on a mild winter morning, with some light cloud drifting through. The sky and ground have been enhanced with Orton-style glow effects applied with Luminar 3. The diffraction spikes were added with Astronomy Tools actions. So, yes, this is a “processed” image, punched up a bit to look pretty. It also provides a good demo example of Rule of Thirds composition.
The waning crescent Moon above Venus (at centre) and Jupiter (lower left) lined up across the dawn sky on December 31, 2018. Mercury was even lower but is not visible here. This is an HDR stack (using Photoshop HDRPro) of 5 exposures with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 200, with an Orton glow layer added with Luminar for artistic effect, blended with luminosity masks, and star spikes with Astronomy Tools.
The Full Moon rising on December 22, 2018, the day after the winter solstice, in a perfectly clear sky and over the distant horizon to the northeast over the snow-covered prairie. Some cows are grazing at left! The top edge of the Moon has a green rim and the bottom edge a red rim, from atmospheric refraction. But it made for a Christmas-coloured Moon ornament on the horizon! The dark lunar mare and even the bright rays splashing from Tycho at bottom are visible. This is a close up with the 105mm refractor, the Astro-Physics Traveler, at f/5.8 for a focal length of 609mm, and with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 200, with the camera on auto exposure and taken as part of a 950-frame time-lapse sequence. This is a single exposure.
