Planets at Dawn

While this shot is not spectacular I am happy with it because it captured three planets. Venus is easy to see, but you might need to look at the large version to see Mercury just above the centre, and Mars up in the extreme left-hand corner. Jupiter, the unseen member of the party, is way up to the left, following a similar diagonal, about as far from Mars as Mars is from Mercury.

I have enjoyed watching this drawn out conjunction of the four planets. Because each planet follows its own orbit around the sun the relative positions changed all the time. Several mornings I have photographed them. Here they are on May 8th. At the top is Venus and Mercury, in the centre Jupiter, and at the bottom, melting into the dawn is Mars.