Venus, Moon, Jupiter and Mercury - December 29, 2008

The year 2008 ends with various alignments of Venus (top left), the Moon, Jupiter and Mercury (bottom right) gathered together in the evening twilight.  December 31, the last evening of the year, will find Venus and the Moon in conjunction and Jupiter and Mercury in conjunction.

Venus, Moon, Jupiter and Mercury - December 30, 2008

One evening later finds the Moon 2/3's of the way to Venus while Mercury edges closer to Jupiter.

Venus, Moon, Jupiter and Mercury - December 31, 2008

More mountain wave clouds made their way into the area than the night before. Luckily a thin area in the clouds went through and I was able to capture a somewhat subdued Moon/Venus combination above the Jupiter/Mercury combination.