Although the weather said the skies were clear there was a high-altitude haze of wildfire smoke. The only star I could see in the sky was Arcturus. Venus and the young moon were beautiful and close in the sky, and I knew Castor and Pollux were nearby even if I couldn’t see them. A 15-second exposure with my little point-and-shoot camera managed to catch them, faint near the top of the image.

The stars are faint from the smoke, so likely won’t show up unless you look at the picture at full size. The dark disc of the moon is also visible. Venus was at about half phase, but is blown out by the long exposure.