Pre-Dawn Light Show

[sheya joie]

Just before sun-up currently, Mercury and Venus are very close together in the eastern sky, with Jupiter shining above them. Very beautiful sight!

I've been going outside for a little over a week now, trying to catch sight of the three of them, but until this morning, clouds had interfered with the view.

The moon is waning towards the next new moon right now, so it will be both narrowing to a pretty crescent and rising later each day. In a few days, that thin crescent will be right there with the three planets and should be a sight to behold. Come have a look!

[MorningGlory]

Sheya, you're in south most Texas? Do you mean like in Corpus Christi or Brownsville? I'm trying to figure out if I can see this from here, in Houston, as I am on my way to work about that time. I have never seen it.

[sheya joie]

Sheya, you're in south most Texas? Do you mean like in Corpus Christi or Brownsville? I'm trying to figure out if I can see this from here, in Houston, as I am on my way to work about that time. I have never seen it.

Yeah, I'm a bit south of you.

I should think that anyone who can see the sun rise should also be able to see the planets. They are moving just ahead of the sun, so you can only see them shortly before sunrise (about 6 to 6:30 am for me). Just look east as the sky begins to lighten. Venus is very bright, Mercury close to Venus but dimmer and harder to see. Jupiter is bright, but higher in the sky right now.

Of course, if the light pollution is really bad, you might not be able to see anything.

(Where I live, I have to contend with lotsa trees messing with my view of the East.)

[sheya joie]

Wow! I hope I wasn't the only one who saw what I saw this morning!

I went out at about 6:15 am to have a look at the planets this morning. As I was walking all the way down the driveway to get to the tree-free area, I caught glimpses of Venus through the branches. But when I got to the viewing site, I found that a small, barely-visible cloud had moved in and was obscuring Venus and Mercury.

While I was waiting for the cloud to move off, I looked around at the rest of the sky. Jupiter was high above where Venus should have been, and the waning Moon even higher. The sky was light enough (either from the approaching dawn or the general light pollution) that only about a half-dozen stars were visible. The only one of these I was reasonably sure I could identify was Arcturus, just west of the zenith.

There were also some light white clouds, and I wondered if perhaps they might be considered noctilucent. I kept checking for Venus and Mercury, but that pesky gray cloud near the eastern horizon just did not want to budge. I needed to get back in soon to get the kids up for school, so I made a short prayer asking the LORD if I should give up. I was sure that the answer was, 'Not yet.'

After a bit, I started to take another look back towards the zenith to spot Arcturus again. As I looked up, a bright dot caught my eye; it was moving! For the next couple of minutes, I stood there watching as the dot moved from just east of the zenith away towards the northeast. It was so exciting! I finally lost sight of it in one of those white clouds. A minute or so later, the gray cloud moved off at last and let me see Venus and Mercury. A very successful morning!

I had spotted something similar to the moving dot last summer, so I was fairly sure I knew what it was. Sure enough, I checked with the Human Space Flight site and found that International Space Station had been visible from south Texas this morning, just at the time I was out there.

(Glory - I checked the site, and the Space Station should be visible from Houston on the following dates and times:

Sat Mar 01 @ 05:12 AM for 1 min, moving from 36 above ESE to 25 above E,

Sun Mar 02 @ 05:35 AM for 3 min, moving from 38 above NW to 10 above NNE, and

Mon Mar 03 @ 05:58 AM for 2 min, moving from 11 above NW to 10 above NNW.)

[sheya joie]

Thought I'd bring this back up.

Currently, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus are visible in the pre-dawn sky. Jupiter and Venus are very bright, but Mars is rather dim and harder to spot.

This morning, I got to see the 'old' crescent moon just above Venus. They were both still a bit visible after the sun came up. At first, before dawn, Venus was centered right in front of the bow of the moon. As time went on, Venus came under and then alongside the moon, so that the last sighting I made, I saw something like this:

(.

[tah]

I wanted to wake up early this morning but when I woke up staying asleep was just more important than watching God's wonderful masterpiece in the sky.. sorry I missed it but I was just too tired...

the meteor shower (Lyrid) was on too did no one notice the little streaks of white?

[sheya joie]

I always miss the meteor showers.

[sheya joie]

Thought I'd bring this back up.

Currently, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus are visible in the pre-dawn sky. Jupiter and Venus are very bright, but Mars is rather dim and harder to spot.

This morning, I got to see the 'old' crescent moon just above Venus. They were both still a bit visible after the sun came up. At first, before dawn, Venus was centered right in front of the bow of the moon. As time went on, Venus came under and then alongside the moon, so that the last sighting I made, I saw something like this:

(.

This is what I was describing.

[MorningGlory]

Thought I'd bring this back up.

Currently, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus are visible in the pre-dawn sky. Jupiter and Venus are very bright, but Mars is rather dim and harder to spot.

This morning, I got to see the 'old' crescent moon just above Venus. They were both still a bit visible after the sun came up. At first, before dawn, Venus was centered right in front of the bow of the moon. As time went on, Venus came under and then alongside the moon, so that the last sighting I made, I saw something like this:

(.

This is what I was describing.

Awesome! It's harder to see in a big city though.

[tah]

This has been my favorite site for updates on what is happening with the sky..

It is simple and to the point and they send you updates if you wish to be kept aware of events ...

http://spaceweather.com/