The waxing crescent Moon with Earthshine and (above) Venus shine in the evening twilight sky over an icy pond near home, on March 26, 2020. Venus was just past greatest elongation from the Sun, and being spring with the high angle of the ecliptic, Venus was as high as it can get this year in an evening apparition. The Pleiades is at very top. This is a stack of 7 exposures for the ground to smooth noise and one for the sky, all 2.5 seconds at f.4 with the Sigma 24mm lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 200.
The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train at its last stop on its 2019 tour, in Gleichen, Alberta, near the Siksika Nation and near home, on December 18, 2019. At each stop, performers present a concert from the stage car to the trackside audience, and raise funds for charity. On this night it was clear enough that some winter stars in and around Orion actually showed up in the sky, though for Orion I blended in a longer 3.2-second exposure to make his stars show up better. This is a 6-segment panorama with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800 and Rokinon 14mm SP f/2.5 lens stopped to f/4.5. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. An Orton glow effect added with Luminar Flex.
Orion and the winter stars and constellations rising in the light of a first quarter Moon on December 3, 2019. The vertical format sweeps up the Milky Way. This was from a viewpoint overlooking the Bow River on the Siksika Nation in southern Alberta. Orion is above the river with Sirius in Canis Major just rising. Aldebaran in Taurus and the Pleiades are at top right. At top is the star Capella and the constellation of Auriga. At left are Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Above the lights is Procyon in Canis Minor. The Beehive Cluster is at left. The low Moon behind the camera to the right added a warm “bronze hour” tint to the landscape. This is a blend of untracked exposures for the ground and tracked exposures for the sky, using the Star Adventurer tracker. The ground and sky are each stacks of 4 x 1-minute exposures with the 15-35mm Canon RF lens at 15mm and f/2.8 and on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 800. I had some fun with filters on this one, applying a Soft Glow filter with Luminar Flex to the ground and an Orton Glow effect to the sky with ON1 Photo RAW 2020.
