Mars Emerging from Behind Moon

Mars passed behind the moon this morning, exiting around 04:30  here in Minden, NV.  I didn’t see it enter the lit side as it was below the horizon (and/or earlier than I wanted to wake up).   Since the moon and Mars were between the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae I was kind of hoping for to catch those as well.  As soon as I saw how much of a crescent moon there was I knew that was out of the question.  Clouds too.   If you know where to look you can see the core of the Lagoon in the below photo as dim fuzziness near the top center, but all of my attempts to bring it out just wash out the photo with moonlit haze.  This is a few minutes after Mars appeared when the clouds had cleared more:

Here’s the quick pic I posted this morning, a few minutes earlier and right after final contact:

Both are 400mm  f/6, the top is about 8 sec and the bottom shorter.