Through a dark filter, the Sun appears as the bright dot on the lower right of the image. The Moon appears as a crescent superimposed on an odd-shaped dark circle protruding into the left of the image. This shadow is actually a silhouette of a driveway reflector mounted on an aluminum rod used to block out the bright moon - so as to allow a third exposure, this time unfiltered, of the background night sky. And what a beautiful sky it is. Highlights include Comet Hale-Bopp , on the right, and the Pleiades star cluster , near the center.
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