Conjunction of the Moon and Venus on January 28, 2013

Chris usually gets up for work way before I do. On the morning of January 28, 2013 he called me on his way to work to let me know that an orange crescent moon was rising over the buildings to the southwest. He said it looked huge! I told him, well duh it always looks bigger close to the horizon but it stays the same size (smaller than your pinky fingernail at arm's length).

By the time I was up and taking Katie out to potty, the moon and Venus were higher above the horizon nestled among some clouds to set the scene. According to Stellarium, they were about 9º apart (less than the width of your fist at arms length).

ISO 100, 43mm, f/9, 1/2 sec at 7:31AM

ISO 100, 18mm, f/9, 1.3 sec at 7:34AM

After a few minutes the clouds rolled in and it actually started snowing later in the day. Another perk to taking the dog out to check out the sky conditions on a regular basis!