Anyone get out and see the close approach of the moon and Mars last evening?

I wanted to, but it was densely overcast and raining last evening at sunset here, so I had almost given up, and went back inside to watch TV.

But near midnight I went back out, and while I couldn't find the moon, due to patchy clouds, I could see the brightness of the moon, in spots of thinner clouds. So I waited a bit more, went back in and grabbed my M1X and a 300mm + a 1.4 TC, and waited a bit more......

Until I could begin to see the moon passing through relatively clear holes between the clouds, which were moving pretty quickly, and then I began to see just a couple holes big enough to encompass the moon and the nearby Mars - I was too late for the closest approximation due to the earlier weather, but I did get a few handheld frames that aren't too awful.

1/125th sec, f5.6, ISO 6400 - monochrome

photos.smugmug.com

1/125th f5.6 ISO 2000 uncropped color

photos.smugmug.com

I'm kinda loving the atmosphere added by the clouds to be honest, gives a lot more drama than a clear sky!

Thanks. The holes in the clouds actually look bigger in these images than they usually were, many were hardly larger than the moon, but they were moving quickly, so some larger ones went by too, and those larger holes are captured in these images.

I kind of liked the clouds too.

Looks amazing!