I actually have some other things that I was about to post, but while down distributing critter corn I noticed the moon was looking pleasant, and quickly got set up before it disappeared behind the house. So it’s bumping the other things temporarily.
Ehhhh, not bad, and at 7.4% illuminated, hardly the smallest crescent that I’ve captured, but we can do better.
This is a tad brighter than the earthshine was actually appearing, but that’s okay – I didn’t have a lot of time to play around. And really, I’m not complaining about the detail – you can see Tycho’s impact rays, for dog’s sake! And the fact that some thin, wispy clouds were adding their own touches.
That wasn’t all, though. You might have heard this, but Venus is appearing quite close by tonight too.
Venus is very bright right now, in gibbous phase though you really can’t tell that without a moderate telescope – I think I’ve captured a hint of it before, but not much.
Venus goes through phases just like the moon, but since it’s on its own orbit around the sun, these have different impacts. When full or close to it like now, Venus is on the far side of the sun from us and about as small as it can appear. It gets much larger as it gets between us and the sun, but then it’s down to crescent phases and often not even visible at night, though if you know where to look you might see it during the day. Otherwise, you’re trying to catch it at twilight when the sun isn’t visible. One of these days I’ll snag a detailed crescent, but it will likely take planning and still won’t be that big in the frame, considering how small it appears when it’s as close as it can get.