Stunning Lunar Crescent, Mercury and

the Seven Sisters Star Cluster M45

Sunset Conjunction

Uploaded 4/27/09

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 Sunday night we viewed a spectacular gathering of the thin very young moon complete with Earthshine forming a 5 degree long line in the west with the Pleiades star cluster just underneath, and the planet mercury just under that.

This image is a longer 30 second exposure that captures the last deep cobalt blue of the evening twilight with the scene suspended in the sea of blue. I took this near our house at a large open field next to a golf course with Juniper pine trees framing the event.

Instrument: Canon 17 - 40mm L @ 40mm Platform: Robotic Barn Door Camera: Canon 10D @ ISO200 Exposure: 30s Filters: Location: Payson,Az Elevation: 5100 ft. Sky: Seeing 4/10, Transparency 9/10 Outside Temperature: 45F Processing Tools: Photoshop CS2 HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS