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Visitor Information: The RPS Gallery and coffee shop will be closed on Saturday 7 December

Moon And Venus
CREDIT: Alan Hodgson ASIS HonFRPS

In search of serenity

Stuff to see and share

I get a lot of pleasure from looking at the moon. Sometimes I take my camera with me too. I would like to share my thoughts with you from yesterday evening, in the hope that this may help and inspire you too at this time.

The front of my house faces SW and just after dark a crescent moon was hanging in the sky. I find the changing phase and position of the moon interesting and somehow calming - serenity in a scene. Yesterday evening was a little special as moon and planet Venus were close in the sky. Time to capture the moment.

The 2 objects were close enough to fit in a single frame using a 200mm lens; long enough to capture the shape of the moon quite easily. Single image, Nikon D750, 200mm Nikkor manual lens, 1/200 sec, f/5.6 ISO 1250 hand held. And yes, Venus has some shape too - the little speck at the top right of the image. It has phases as well and was just under half lit last night.

The biggest challenge was catching a gap in the clouds to get them both unobscured. But a calming moment just stood in the front garden on a quiet evening. Over the next days you will see the moon moving up through the sky and getting fuller. Venus looks like a very bright evening star just after sunset in the West. Look out for them and join me in their serenity.

Read more like this in President's News.