The rising Full Moon of February 8, 2020, over the Alberta prairie. This night the Moon rose about 7 hours before the moment of actual Full Moon so it was rising well before sunset, with the Sun still well up the southwest but amid some cloud so it was not directly lighting the landscape. The brighter sky meant that a single exposure could capture the sky without overexposing the lunar disk. This is a single image with the 200mm lens and 1.4x teleconvertor on the Canon 6D MkII camera.
Here is the line of Mercury, Venus and the waxing quarter Moon across the evening sky on February 2, 2020. This illustrated version shows how the quarter Moon forms a 90° right angle with the Sun (here just below the horizon), which is why it is a quarter Moon phase. When the Moon is 90° from the Sun (either waxing or waning) we see half of its face illuminated by the Sun. When it is 180° away from the Sun we see 100% of its face illuminated in a Full Moon. Mercury and Venus always appear much closer to the Sun, with Mercury never more than about 18° from the Sun. Mercury was at its greatest elongation of 18° on Feb. 10 this year, just over a week after this image was taken. On this evening it was about 15° from the Sun. Venus never gets more than about 47° from the Sun, and its greatest elongation date this year in 2020 was March 24. On this date, Feb 2, it was 41° from the Sun. I’ve indicated those angles, though the actual measured angles on the image are less than those figures, as they should be measured from the camera not from a point in front of the camera as I’ve shown. This is just for illustration purposes! Put your protractors away! This is a single image with the 14mm Sigma lens and Nikon D750. Taken from home in Alberta from a latitude of 51° N.
Here is the line of Mercury, Venus and the waxing quarter Moon across the evening sky on February 2, 2020. This version shows how the quarter Moon forms a 90° right angle with the Sun (here just below the horizon), which is why it is a quarter Moon phase. When the Moon is 90° from the Sun (either waxing or waning) we see half of its face illuminated by the Sun. When it is 180° away from the Sun we see 100% of its face illuminated in a Full Moon. Mercury and Venus always appear much closer to the Sun, with Mercury never more than about 18° from the Sun. Mercury was at its greatest elongation of 18° on Feb. 10 this year, just over a week after this image was taken. On this evening it was about 15° from the Sun. Venus never gets more than about 47° from the Sun, and its greatest elongation date this year in 2020 was March 24. On this date, Feb 2, it was 41° from the Sun. This is a single image with the 14mm Sigma lens and Nikon D750. Taken from home in Alberta from a latitude of 51° N.
