Crescent Moon, Crescent Venus

Both the moon and Venus were in their crescent phases as seen in the southwest sky from Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Wednesday evening, November 6, 2013. The top image was taken around 5:14 PM CST, the middle at 5:23 PM, and the bottom at 5:33 PM. Venus, just 10 degrees in the sky from the moon on this evening, is actually at its brightest when it is in its crescent phase (it's closer to Earth then). This evening it shone at a sparkling -4.45 magnitude. Air temperature was around 35 degrees F.