Step by step

STEP 1

Work out the field of view required to capture the Moon and Pleiades when the sky is clear. If you’re planning to incorporate foreground scenery, a larger field is needed. A good maximum to consider is a long axis coverage of around 28°, using a 40mm lens on a non-full frame camera or 65mm for full frame.

STEP 3

If you don’t have a MILC or DSLR camera, you may be able to capture the scene with a smartphone, depending on its sensitivity to low light conditions. By all means use your phone camera’s zoom function, but if it has optical and digital zoom, you’re better off using the optical zoom to maintain quality.

STEP 5

With a tracking mount you can increase the maximum exposure, but be careful not to over expose the Moon. A tracking mount also lets you to stop the lens down further, increasing exposure time to compensate. Using say, f/11, the aperture blades of the lens should create diffraction spikes from the bright Moon.

STEP 2

You’ll need a dark sky to get the best results, which means photographing after 20:00 UT in March or 22:00 BST (21:00 UT) in April. Pick a location with no high foreground objects that might hide the Moon or Pleiades. You’ll have more time to gauge what’s happening in March (the two objects set earlier in April).

STEP 4

Frame your shot and focus on the Moon. Set a low to mid ISO, say 1,600-3,200, then fully open the lens and increase the f/-number by a stop or two to prevent edge distortion. For a fixed tripod, use up to a maximum exposure (in seconds) of 500 divided by the focal length of your lens (in millimetres).

STEP 6

If patchy clouds interfere, use these to good effect. If the cloud is broken and thin, it may even be possible to time your shot so the Pleiades is seen under clear sky while the Moon is reduced in brightness by cloud. This can allow you to really bring out detail in the cluster without the Moon dominating the shot.