Venus above the Pleiades star cluster, M45, on April 4, 2020, in the twilight and moonlight. Light from the gibbous Moon illuminated the sky, so no long exposure would reveal much detail in and around the Pleiades. Venus passes close to the Pleiades only every 8 years. It was closer the night before, but alas, there were clouds! Some light cloud this night added the glow. This is a stack of multiple exposures of varying lengths: 2 minutes, 30 seconds, 10 seconds and 2 seconds, blended with masks to prevent Venus from being too blown out while still recording the stars. All were with the SharpStar 140mm PH apo refractor with the 0.73x flattener/reducer for f/4.8 and at ISO 400 with the Canon EOS Ra.
A wide-field image of the Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster (mostly in Virgo) including the Messier galaxies of Markarian’s Chain at right, and to Messier 59 and 60 at bottom left, adn up to M91 and M88 at top. The field is about 4 degrees high and 6 degrees wide. This is a stack of 8 x 8-minute exposures through the SharpStar 76mm EDPH refractor and with the SharpStar flattener/reducer for f/4.5, and with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800.
