Venus and Mars were in conjunction in late summer of 2010, low in the west at early evening. This scene shows them nearing Spica, although by the angle made between the planets and Spica, I must have been somewhere south, at least as far as the latitude of the Gulf Coast. I don't recall that time at all LOL. Venus was magnitude -4.37 on this date, which is very bright, while Mars was only +1.52, which is very dim compared to Mars' usual brightness even while near solar conjunction. Unannotated image
In 2010, Venus was reprising its apparitions of 1986, 1994, and 2002, and which it would repeat again in 2018 and 2026. These begin with a slow rise into the evening sky beginning in January, resulting in a moderately high elevation by the late spring, and then declining elevation while still gaining in elongation from the Sun until September. After that it begins to slow quickly and then fall back even faster to its inferior conjunction, which means it passes between the Earth and Sun (although this time doing so far south of the ecliptic) in late October.
Mars is concluding its apparition that began in early 2009 and culminated in its opposition in Cancer on January 29, 2010. Now it is close to being on the far side of the Sun, the position of which is known as superior conjunction.
At the time of this picture, Saturn was to the lower right of Mars, buried too deep in bright twilight to be seen anymore. Exactly two weeks before this photo, August 10, the planets made a close grouping, all fitting in a circle with radius of 3°. I wish I could have recorded that event!