Mercury two days after Maximum Elongation.

In the evening on Friday 31st October, clear skies with good visibility after strong winds had cleared smoke haze from burning during the past few days, enabled Mercury to be photographed two days after maximum elongation. It appears in the center of the accompanying image looking to the WSW of Mutare with Mars below and the Scorpius constellation with the red giant star Antares above. More information on Mercury at Maximum Elongation at https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercury-after-sunset-greatest-elongation-east/

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

Image size reduction with slight enhancement of visibility of celestial objects using 'Star Spikes Pro' filter.