Venus and the Abandoned Railroad Trestle

The -4.43 magnitude planet Venus (right) offset the shadowy hulk of an abandoned railroad trestle nicely in this view of the west sky as seen from a nature trail about .10 mile south of West 8th Avenue in Marion, Iowa and about .20 mile north of Thomas Park. Barely visible below and right of Venus is the Pleiades star cluster. This image, a five second exposure at f/5.6, 3200 ISO and 18mm focal length, was shot around 9:42 PM, Monday, April 9, 2012. (The "abandoned" trestle would not stay abandoned for long as work began less than two weeks later to convert it to a bicycle trail bridge.)