May 18th, 2018, 9:05 p.m. local time
The Moon and Venus were side-by-side again last night in the Western sky. The surrounding clouds offered a nice opportunity for a larger framing of the evening view.
If you look closely above and to the left of the Moon, you can see stars. They were not visible to me at the time I took this picture. The brightest one on the left is the star Alhena in the constellation Gemini. And in fact, the very faint stars, which you will only be able to see if you click on the full image, are all part of the bottom of Gemini. Castor and Pollux, at the top of Gemini, were visible at this time, but out of the image frame. I am guessing that next month, these two plus the Moon will make for another nice viewing, weather permitting.
Finally, note that the glow around the Moon and to a smaller degree Venus are not exposure issues. Those coma-like appearances were plainly seen due to the cloud cover.
