Object: Young Moon and the Pleiades Star Cluster
Date: 04/08/08, 9:00pm MDT
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Camera: Canon 300D using a Canon 200mm f/2.8L lens on a tripod
Exposure: Blend of 1/4" and 1/20" exposures
Processing: used the PS magic wand to select the blown-out sunlit moon/halo of the 1/4" frame then filled the area black. Cropped out the barely overexposed moon of the 1/20" exposure and pasted it over the original using lighten blending mode. Tweaked the levels up a bit to brighten the earthshine and added ~15 counts to the image to bring the background up off the rail.
Comments: These close encounters of heavenly highlights occur periodically and always make a good opportunity to get out under the sky and take in the beauty of our universe.  The Pleiades star cluster drifts some 400 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. 

© Dave Dockery 2008