Ghostly Night Sky

High level cirrus clouds veil the waxing gibbous moon (left) and the planet Jupiter (at upper right) in this three-second exposure at f/16, 1600 ISO and 18mm focal length. The longer exposure created the "ray effect" around the moon, and blurred lunar features, so it was necessary to create a composite image. Jupiter shines through the cirrus veil at a magnitude of -2.53. The barely visible star below the moon is 0.84 magnitude Aldebaran, in the constellation Taurus. This image, looking southeast from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was shot around 5:45 PM, Thursday, January 5, 2012.