Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction

This evening, the planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury were in conjunction following the setting sun.  The three planets formed an almost perfect equilateral triangle spanning a region the size of my thumb.  I was afraid we would not catch this event since the weather had been stormy for the previous several days.  We got a break in the clouds in the evening so Danielle and I drove out to a spot near the Lake Georgetown dam where we could see the western horizon.

In the image below, Venus is the brightest planet at the bottom, Mercury is the dimmest up and to the right. Jupiter is to the left.  Zooming in on the original image, I was able make out the moon Europa below and slightly to the right of Jupiter and the moon Callisto up and to the left.

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction - Georgetown Texas, 2013-05-26 21:45
Canon 60Da, Canon EF 70-200/f4L.  Exposure 0.5" at 200mm, f/4, ISO-200

Update 2013.05.31 - Five nights later, we had another break in the clouds though the low haze was still problematic.  The planets had now rearranged themselves to form a straight line.  In the picture below, Jupiter is in roughly the same part of the sky but is now at the bottom of the grouping.  Venus and Mercury have both climbed rapidly into the sky. Venus, always the brightest is in the center and Mercury at the top. In the upper left corner of the image you can also make out the magnitude 3.5 star Propus in Gemini.

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction - Georgetown Texas, 2013-05-31 20:58
Canon 60Da, Canon EF 70-200/f4L.  Exposure 1/10sec at 100mm, f/8, ISO-1000

Danielle also got a shot but from a different vantage

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction - Georgetown Texas, 2013-05-31 21:00
Canon 450D Mod/OWB, Canon EF 100mm/f2.8 Macro.  Exposure 1/25sec at f/3.5, ISO-400