Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moon

A choice of celestial object observation was apparent in the southwest sky around 9:13 PM, Tuesday, July 24, 2012 as seen from just west of Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa. This evening's event featured a cluster of two planets, the Moon and a bright star. The Moon (center) was a waxing crescent. Above and left of the Moon is the 0.96-magnitude star Spica in the constellation Virgo. Above Spica is the 0.77-magnitude planet Saturn and above and right of the Moon is the 1.03-magnitude planet Mars. This image is a 1.3-second exposure at f/14, 1000 ISO and 26mm focal length.