Venus and Young Moon with Earthshine in Volcanic Sunset

On Wednesday 4th September, clear skies following some light rain provided very good views of Venus and the 2% illuminated 2-day old crescent Moon setting to the west between 6.00 and 6.40 pm in another brightly coloured volcanic sunset. The highlight of the event was being able to capture 73 consecutive 4 second exposures of the two descending towards the summit of Murahwa Mountain. These were used to produce a spectacular time-lapse animation in which the Moon sets and two Virgo stars Zaniah and Porrima appear in the vicinity of Venus as the sky darkens. The moving lights that appear below are from traffic descending and ascending the Christmas Pass Highway. The animation will be presented as a Disqus comment.

Tripod-mounted Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS40 in manual exposure mode.

Image size reduction with slight adjustment of brightness and contrast.