Last night, there was a beautiful conjunction of a thin crescent Moon, the Pleiades (a.k.a. the Seven Sisters, a.k.a. the "other Little Dipper") and Mercury (a.k.a. quicksilver). Even in the light-polluted dusky sky of Tualatin, all three elements were clearly visible as they chased the Sun toward the horizon. A nearby tree was illuminated by streetlight, providing colorful foreground for the scene. (Click the image for a larger view; you will need to tell your browser to show the picture at 100% size to see the details.)
Earthshine illuminated the dark side of the Moon to the degree that geographic details were clearly visible. Mercury is actually a crescent right now, but my telephoto lens was not powerful enough to show it as anything but a point in space. ("Astrophotography with a Camera and Tripod" can only go so far!)
In order to capture this scene, it was necessary to crank up my camera's ISO to 1,600. While that created some background image noise, it was a small price to pay to get the shot! :-)
