Planetary Triumvirate

The planets Jupiter (left center in image), Venus (lower) and Mercury (right of Venus) were gathering for a close conjunction beginning on the evening of Thursday, May 23, 2013. Venus and Mercury are setting into the haze of the horizon. This image, shot around 9:30 PM, shows their triangular formation in the WNW sky as seen from Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa. Lights from traffic in the background are on East Main Street. The planets gather even closer in the next few nights. Viewing them here though, may be a big challenge as cloudy skies with rain promise to be dominant in the weather forecast. Jupiter is shown at magnitude -1.92, Venus at -3.90 and Mercury at -1.01. This image is a 2-second exposure at f/9, 320 ISO and 55mm focal length. The star seen at top is 1.62 magnitude Elnath in the constellation Auriga.