Early in February I suggested you watch bright Venus in the evening sky as it passed very close to Mars in a beautiful conjunction. Venus came within a lunar diameter of Mars on February 21st. For those fortunate to have clear skies, you could watch from night to night as the event played out. Here in Iowa we had a mix of clouds, some clear days, and some single digit temperatures with wind. That is typical winter weather for the midwest.
I hoped for clear skies so I could photograph the pairing each evening and then combine them into one image showing the movements of each planet. Nature cooperated some of the time.
Overall Perspective
This graphic from an online orrery shows the locations of the planets on February 17th. In this oblique view, each planet is moving counter-clockwise around the Sun. Venus moves faster than Mars and passes it by from…
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Our View From Iowa 