Evening Conjunction

I almost missed it!  In the rush to get dinner ready for Melinda before getting her off to work, I forgot that the new crescent moon was going to be next to innermost planet Mercury shortly after sunset.  Somehow I stepped out in the back yard before it got too late and saw it, then grabbed the camera and took this photo handheld for 1/6th of a second down our cul-de-sac.  Mercury is the little star-like object just above the tree - click the image for a full-size view.  This is the first of a quartet of moon-planet alignments the next few days.  Tomorrow Uranus should be just visible with binoculars to the left of the moon, then it will be next to Venus on Saturday and Jupiter on Sunday!  If it is clear where you are, be sure to step out and take a gander with your binoculars the next few nights and see if you can spot all 5 planets (be sure to count earth!).