Moon, Venus and Jupiter - 1 (2012)

On the morning of 2012 July 14 (MST), the crescent Moon and the planets Venus and Jupiter made an attractive conjunction in the constellation Taurus. The observatory domes in the foreground are part of Cave Creek Canyon Observatory in Portal, AZ.

The Moon is the brightest object at the top of the photo. Just to the left of the Moon is the small "dipper-shaped" Pleiades star cluster. The bright object above the observatory domes is the planet Venus.To the upper right of Venus is Aldebaran the brightest star in Taurus and one of the 50 Brightest Star in the sky. Also visible near Aldebaran is the V-shaped Hyades star cluster.About half way between bright Venus and the Moon is the planet Jupiter

For more images of interesting planetary alignments, see Conjunctions Gallery. An almanac of other major sky happenings for each year can be found at Calendar of Astronomical Events.

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