Just now, took a peek out there as the sky was darkening, noticed that it was more than clear enough, and did a couple of test shots. I also noticed another speck in the viewfinder and reframed, but I was still working handheld and sharpness was lacking. As I was setting up the tripod and getting the remote release out and the camera set for mirror lockup*, the last little light and color was fading from the sky, but it still allowed me to snag the moon and Spica in the same frame – that’s the star well off to the left. It’ll be closer in a few hours.
I can see a couple of little specks on the terminator of the moon, edges of craters or mountain peaks just catching the hint of the sun over the moon’s horizon. It’ll be interesting to see how much they’ve advanced by the time of occultation – I may have some comparisons then.
*Mirror lockup: the mirror slapping up right before the shutter opens introduces a pretty good amount of vibration into the camera, which can show on the images at high magnification if the shutter speed is low enough, such as for night sky photography. Mirror lockup is an option on many camera bodies, which allows the first press of the shutter release to simply raise the mirror, allowing the vibrations to die down before another press opens the shutter itself – some cameras simply set for two seconds of delay, but in my experience with long lenses, five is much better. It really can make a significant difference.