Venus-led Celestial Love Triangle

The planets Venus, Mars and a crescent moon formed a celestial right triangle in the western sky at dusk on Saturday, March 21, 2015. Venus (upper left) blazed at magnitude -4.0, while Mars (right of the moon) appeared much less bright at magnitude 1.34. Both of these images were captured from the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa, the top at 8:12 PM CDT and the bottom at 8:19 PM. Nikon D5000 DSLR images were captured with automatic settings. Air temperature was 45 degrees F. This clear sky opportunity was replaced by a winter mix a little over 24 hours later. The waxing moon was one day removed from creating a solar eclipse in various parts of the world.