Crowded Western Skies

 

Notifications for western skies on the evenings of July 19 & 20, 2023 to be loaded with celestial bodies. I prepared to take advantage of this with a setup location on Hampshire Drive in Marion, Iowa on Thursday evening, July 20. By 8:24 pm CDT (above) it did not look promising to accomplish this---brilliant but cloud-streaked skies.

 

Less than an hour later, the sky had cleared enough to catch good glimpses of the "show." The above image was captured at 9:19 pm and is a 0.5 second exposure at f/6.3, ISO 160 and 48mm focal length. Left of the waxing moon is the 1.76 magnitude planet Mars. Below and right of the moon was the 1.34 magnitude star Regulus in the constellation Leo. Below Regulus was the -4.42 magnitude planet Venus. At far right was the -0.34 magnitude planet Mercury.

9:25 pm. Zoomed in version, with Mars, Regulus and Venus seen with the moon. 0.8 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 200, 48mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.