The single telephoto exposure tracking the sky was captured on
the night of April 19,
when a two day old Moon was near perigee in its elliptical orbit.

On that date, the young Moon was also close on the sky to the lovely
Pleiades Star Cluster.

With the moonlight dimmed by clouds the Pleiades
sister stars gather
below the Moon's bright crescent, seen through a faint but colorful
lunar corona.

The lunar night side is illuminated
by earthshine,
sunlight reflected from the Earth itself.

The Moon's ashen glow,
also known as the "old moon in the young moon's arms",
tends to be brighter in the northern hemisphere spring.

And for now, the Moon's orbit takes it near the
Pleiades
stars each month in planet Earth's sky,
though their close conjunctions are easiest to
see when the Moon
is near a crescent phase.