The waxing crescent Moon, with the darkside lit by Earthshine, a binocular field south of Venus, bright as an evening star. This was April 17, 2018, from near home in southern Alberta. This was with the Nikon D750 and the old 1970s vintage 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor lens at f/2.8. This is a single 5-second exposure, untracked. To be artistic I added diffraction spikes on Venus with Astronomy Tools actions, and an Orton-style glow effect with Luminar effects plug-in.
Orion and the winter stars setting into the west on a mid-April evening, on April 14, 2018. Clouds coming from the west hide or dim some of the stars, notably Aldebaran at centre. But Orion left of centre is mostly in the clear. Sirius is at far left, above it Procyon. Castor and Pollux are at top, with Capella right of top centre. The bright object low in the twilight is Venus. This is a stack of 5 images for the ground to smooth noise and one image for the sky, all 15 seconds untracked at f/2.8 with the Rokinon 14mm SP and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800.
Mars (below) and Saturn in conjunction 1.3° apart in Sagittarus in the dawn sky on April 3, 2018. They were a little closer the previous morning but it was cloudy! The fuzzy spot to the right of Mars is the globular cluster M22. The waning gibbous Moon off frame to the right provides the illumination, plus the brightening blue of morning twilight lights the sky. This is a composite of one 2.5-second exposure for the sky, to prevent trailing, and a stack of 8 x 2.5-second exposures for the ground, mean combined to smooth noise. All with the Rokinon 85mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 400. Star diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools actions for artistic effect.
