Last night's alignment of Mars with Pollux and Castor. This lucky shot unexpectedly captured a jet's con-trail crossing Venus and the faint star, Mebsuta, adjacent to the planet. The previous image taken just 14 seconds prior to this one provided the clue that the trail was drifting in the direction of Venus and this shot was taken, with the planet sat so that the line passed perfectly through it's centre. The plane's marker lights have been airbrushed out of the image.

Venus was shining at magnitude -4.09, whilst Mebsuta (Epsilon Geminorum),845 light years away, with a visual magnitude of 3.19 was not visible to the naked eye in the haze and glare of Venus.

Nikon D800, Nikon50 mm f/1.4 Prime Lens
f/2, 3 sec, ISO-400

GIMP, curves, colour balance, airbrush aeroplane and marker lights out.