Venus wandered through the Pleiades (M45) in early, April 2020, and I was able to capture a few images on the night of April 6, 2020. This was a few days after Venus was smack dab in the middle of the Pleiades, but still close enough to fit in the field of a short telephoto lens on the full frame DSLR. This was a tough one to capture since there was less than an hour to image between sunset and M45 setting behind some nearby trees in the Western sky.

Revised Version (April 2020 + January 2020 data):

Used PixInsight GradientMergeMosaic process to merge the new short exposure Venus+M45 data with some long exposure data from January 2020. For reference, January 2020 data: https://astrob.in/xxtpbl/0/

(1) Starting with linear datasets, applied dnaLinearFit script to match brightness

(2) Generated mosaic segments using StarAlignment process with Working mode set to Register/Union – Separate. No frame adaptation.

(3) Generated mosaic using GradientMergeMosaic process.

(4) Additional post-processing on linaer mosaic: MLT for noise reduction, Photometric Color Calibration, initial mild stretch of nebulosity using Histogram Transformation Tool using Starnet generated star mask, Masked stretch using default settings, Curves Transformation, TGVdenosie for noise reduction, Local Histogram transformation, and Color Saturation boost.

Original Version (April 2020 data):

Imaged using a Nikon D750 and Nikon 24-120 mm zoom at 120 mm and F/4. Stack of 29 images with exposure of 20 seconds at iso400. Pre-processed using PixInsight Batch Pre-Processing (BPP) script. Images calibrated using flats and flat darks. Post-processed in PixInsight: Cropped, gradient removal with ABE, MLT for noise reduction, photmetric color calibration. Stretched the stars and Venus separately to minimize blow-out around Venus, then combined two versions using Pixelmath. Version 1 (stars) stretched with histogram transformation, stars only version generated using Starnet++ process, further stretch on stars only version. Version 2 (Venus) light histogram transformation with starnet mask applied (Inverse) to protect stars. Pixelmath addition of stars and Venus versions. Additional post-processing: Curves Transformation, TGVDenoise for noise reduction, Local histogram transform, color saturation adjustment.