The shot was taken at Mile Marker 422 on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Fetterbush Overlook. The tree is pretty popular with local photographers as it has a beautiful crown and it really shows off sky and stars once the leaves drop. I was facing east in hopes that once Venus and Spica rose high enough to see I would get lucky and catch a meteor, Venus, and Spica all in one shot. No meteor, but Venus and Spica were putting on a show of their own.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 20mm f/1.8 lens shot at 13 second exposure and f/3.2, ISO3200, 3600K I used a Lonely Speck PureNight (didymium ) filter as I was shooting east and there is a good bit of light pollution from several cities in that direction.

Added a bit of clarity, vibrance and saturation.