A tale of three pictures in one sky, and the different camera equipment needed to tell those three stories.
I thought that the Moon would still be close enough to Venus to be captured in one frame using the 75-300 mm zoom lens – NOPE! Too far apart tonight. So I had to go back into the house and get the camera with the 18-55 mm “normal” lens. Zoomed in to 55 mm, you can just get the Moon at top left, Mars directly below it, and Venus just quite not setting in the lower right. Good thing that gap in the trees is there and my front yard is a bit elevated. What a glorious thing a flat western horizon would be!
The Moon is about three days past new, so along the terminator line you can start to see some nice shadows in the craters. This is using the big lens at 300 mm.
But if you wait for it to get a bit darker and then you overexpose the Moon, you can spot Mars directly below it. Also using the 300 mm zoom lens, just using a 1 second exposure instead of a 1/100 second exposure.
The Moon is on it’s merry way up toward the zenith and full moon in ten days. Venus is climbing away from the Sun while Mars is sinking toward the Sun. Keep an eye on July 10th and 11th! Venus, Mars, and the just-past new crescent (AGAIN!) Moon will all be piled up in a wonderful conjunction. This June arrangement is just a rehearsal!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 