h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Early risers, up a bit before dawn, may get to see the conjunction of three planets any morning between 1st and 16 October.

Mercury, Venus and Saturn are all in the Eastern sky just before sun-up. Venus is by far the brightest and can be used as a signpost to the other two. Tracing a more-or-less straight line from Venus down to the horizon will show Mercury then Saturn underneath. By the 8 Oct, Saturn will have appeared to have moved up to join Mercury, and will be within a half of a degree of each other, still just below Venus.
By the 13 Oct Saturn will have moved further up and be nestling against Venus, from where it continues on upwards. Their positions continue to change into the straight line again, but now with Venus in the centre. On the 16 Oct a Crescent waning moon joins in the party on the right (western) side of the line.

Although all this is happening quite close to the horizon, (within about 15 degrees). Because of Mercury's brightness of over first magnitude it may be worth a try if you have a good vantage point.

Deke

Sounds good. I'll have to watch out for that!

I'll have a look too if these damned clouds ever clear .

t.

Arrgh!!

Welsh weather...

t.

Yeah... much the same here.

Up before dawn, not a star in sight. And even tonight it's cloudy and wet. But weirdly it's quite warm.

Deke

Spectacular view before dawn today, Mercury and Saturn both in the same field of view in my 10x50s.

Zube

It's just been cloudy and wet for the last three mornings here. This evening has cleared up rather well, so I'll give it another go in the morning.
Might just be lucky.

Deke

Quite clear this morning just before dawn. No trouble in identifying Venus. But a little too much murk further down.

I could pinpoint where Saturn and Mercury should be, but couldn't actually see them. It's back to cloudy and wet tonight, so not much hope for tomorrow. Still, the alarm's set.

Good views of the waning moon last night though.

Deke

It was a lovely clear morning today, but unfortunately I was up just too late. I could see Venus very clearly, but I couldn't make out Saturn or Mercury at all. I'll have to try about 30 minutes earlier tomorrow.

On the other hand, I did see Mars, lined up with Castor and Pollux to make a very distinctive bright line of three stars high in the sky and the moon was less than 2° from Mars.

Me too. Up too late that is. Saw Venus, the moon and Sirius but it was too bright for Mars and the others.

Try again tomorrow.

t.

It was very clear this morning. I managed to get the three of them about a half hour before sun up. In a very reddish sky.

In a few days a 4% crescent waning moon should be with them.


Galaxy Babe reports early Orionids. The shower is spread out over a week or so and the ZHR is on the 20th so they could well be. I'll give that a try after midnight tonight.

Deke

What a treat. Up early because of interview nerves.

Venus and Saturn together (0.3º apart), Mercury 6.4º lower down and quite orange, the Moon, a waning cresent, fully visible with earthlight and red Mars 17º above and south.

Measurements courtesy of Starry Night Backyard.

Fantastic and will hopefully set me up for the day ahead!

t.

Well done Turvy.

I got a really good view of them this morning. Very little murk. All stood out quite clearly. Also the Moon, but that's some way off yet.

Deke.

Thanks for the tip-off guys.
Saw all 3 this morning, 07:00-ish, sky very clear over this part of Wales.
Had to check with Starry Night to see which was which (going up: Mercury, Venus, then Saturn), but also noticed moon should be visible.
It took quite a while but eventually saw it at 7:15. An extremely thin arc on lower left. Apparently it's '1.02 days before new', so was really lucky to catch it today.
Used 10x50 binocs to start with, but checked with 8x25 and everything was still visible.
Never seen a crescent as fine as this before, so indebted to you all.
Phil.

Hi Phil
It's surprising what a lift it can give.

I was lucky to be able to get a view at all, being surrounded by houses and trees. Mostly anything under about 25 degrees is out of the question. Luckily ‘east-ish’ is directly at the end of our road. Each time I’ve managed to catch a view it’s been from the front garden. Each morning I’ve also worried the over-the-road neighbour who drives off to work at the same time, by appearing half dressed and shirttails flapping with a binnies on a stalk. He hasn’t quite decided whether his neighbours are mad or peeping Toms. You can tell by the sort of half hearted little wave he gives… sometimes.

I had hoped to catch the nearby appearance of the Moon but it wasn’t to be. This morning and yesterday were completely clouded out.

Deke