Moon, Mercury, and Pleiades in the Evening Sky

A few days ago the Moon, Mercury, and the Pleiades were all located close to each other in the evening sky. Although it had been completely cloud free all day, some high clouds moved in right after sunset. I think they add a bit of interest to the otherwise clear sky.

Moon, Mercury, and Pleiades at 2002 MST 02 May 2022.
Moon, Mercury, and Pleiades at 2002 MST 02 May 2022.
Screen shot from Stellarium showing the evening sky plus the field of view from a 70mm lens.
Screen shot from Stellarium showing the evening sky plus the field of view from a 70mm lens.

The image is a composite of a 2-second image of the sky and an 8-second image of the water. It was a breezy evening and the water was roughed up a bit by the wind but the longer exposure helped to smooth out the surface and provide a bit of a reflection of the Moon.

The second image is a screen shot from the Stellarium application showing the positions of these three objects in the evening sky. In addition, Stellarium can project a box showing the field of view of lenses with various focal lengths. In this case, this is the FOV for a 70mm lens. I often use this feature to determine which lens or focal length will give the best framing.

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