May Conjunction - Moon and Venus

	Another good evening conjunction with the Moon and Venus playing hide and seek with the thin cloud. Rather intriguingly what looked like a small corona round Venus may actually be a short Venus pillar, reflecting off ice crystals. It would be hard to explain the elliptical shape otherwise.


The earthshine is still clearly visible as the moon dips behind the hill, showing as a ghostly glow.

The next evening there were still plenty of clear patches and the earthshine was very obvious.

By the next evening the brightening crescent is starting to dominate. This wisp of cloud round the moon showed coronal colours and Venus showed a faint but circular corona in the image to the right.

Canon EOS 20D 15th, 16th and 17th May 2010
Wiltshire, England