Star Show

As the stars came out last evening, the crescent moon appeared close to our brightest stars, Venus and Jupiter, which were at their closest proximity in the sky.

I took a few pictures, which didn't turn out very well since one really needs a better quality camera and a tripod for this sort of thing, but perhaps you can get the idea. I may try again tonight if it's clear.

The trio appears low in the southern sky, a bit toward the west, just as it's getting dark.

You can read more about this celestial phenomenon by visiting Stargazer Jack Horkheimer's website. Scroll down to "Current Show Scripts" and read what he's said about it in recent shows.

According to Jack, the best show was last night when the trio formed a triangle of "the three brightest objects we can ever see in the night time sky."

Although the three celestial bodies appear close, Horkheimer notes that "our 2,000 mile wide" moon is "only 250,000 miles" away, while Venus is "93 million miles" and Jupiter is "a whopping 540 million miles" away.

Seeing the three together in last evening's sky, they somehow seemed much closer!