Moon and stars and clouds

 Wednesday night (17 July) was mostly clear with a few wispy clouds.  The 11.4-d moon was rising over Snowshoe Mountain's southern flank.

A couple hours later this image of the waxing gibbous moon was obtained with the 6" f/5 reflector:

17 July. E-M5iii, ISO 400, 1/800 s.

In spite of the bright moonlight, the Big Dipper was easily visible with some clouds drifting by underneath:

E-M1iii + Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 + softon filter.  ISO 1600, 30 s.

The second star from the end of the Big Dipper's handle is the naked-eye double star Mizar and Alcor:

A closer look with the 6" reflector reveals that Mizar (left bottom) is itself a visual double star:

E-M5iii.  ISO 1600, 1/10 s.

Both stars of the Mizar pair and Alcor (upper right) are doubles themselves, which makes this a six-star system.  The fourth star in the upper left is just a distant background star.

The 10.4-d moon on Tuesday night was visible between a break in the clouds:

16 July. ISO 200, 1/640 s.