Pre-dawn clouds Friday and Saturday kept me from shooting a couple of wonderful convergences this week.

Yesterday (June 19, 2009), the crescent Moon grouped with Venus and Mars. Venus was to the lower right of the Moon, and the much fainter Mars was between them. The clouds were just broken enough that I was able to get an occasional glimpse of this Friday morning, but I wasn’t able to get any pictures.

Others were more fortunate than those of us in Central Texas, however. Astroblogger captured a couple of great shots.

This morning (June 20, 2009), I was up again, this time to capture an arch formed by the Moon, the Pleiades, and the planets Venus, Mars, and Mercury. Unfortunately, the sky was completely covered, and I couldn’t even see it, much less shoot it.

I get one more chance tomorrow, with the Moon at its slimmest and approaching Mercury. I’m not confident that the clouds will clear for me, but we’ll see.