Astronomy Down Under

Venus, Jupiter and the Moon get together

4 Feb at 16:40 by Wilson

If you happen to be up just before dawn tomorrow morning, look to the east for a beautiful show: Venus and Jupiter have been very close to each other for a few days already, but tonight the Moon joins them to make for a nice trio lighting up the sky before dawn.

The planets should be very easy to identify, even if you don’t know which side is east. Venus is now by far the brightest object in the sky and it is rising a few hours before the Sun; Jupiter is somewhat fainter but still brighter than almost anything else.

The Moon will be a very thin crescent, which probably will add to the show (a full Moon would “wash out” the brightness of Venus and Jupiter). Venus will be almost a full disk, but on a telescope it should be easy to see that it is not quite full (and Jupiter, of course, will be full, as always).