Clouds, Moon, and Venus, March 1, 2017

March came in like a transitional lamb-lion this year. The day started out warm and later turned rainy, with the promise of high winds overnight. Clouds blocked out the sun most of the day, but sunset turned those clouds golden-orange.

I was slow to photograph them. Seconds count at sunset, with each passing moment bringing different light effects. The clouds in the east burned with a bright orange-yellow, while those in the west were red and pink. I focused on the ones in the west.

Facing west after sunset. First glimpse of blue sky all day.

A different view of the same scene.

After a bit I remembered that the Moon would be visible as a thin crescent in the west. A break in the clouds revealed it

The Moon and Venus, March 1, 2017. They had been much closer the night before, but we were completely clouded out. Fortunately the clouds broke long enough for me to grab a few images.

The Moon, March 1, 2017.

The crescent of Venus, March 1, 2017. I have never observed this before, even though it should be visible at least once a year. The crescent will become wider and thinner over the next few weeks. The zoom in this image, 42x, is the same as the zoom in the Moon image above. 

I'm heading back to work tomorrow, and will probably be in work past the time that Venus sets for the next five days. Will we have clear skies next Wednesday and Thursday? How much different will the crescent of Venus look then? We'll find out!