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Mercury, Venus, Mars & The Moon
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January 2003 West Pymble, Sydney - Australia |
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This was quite an amazing conjunction. The three closest planets to the Earth, as well as our own Moon, all appeared relatively close together in the pre-dawn sky. The first thing you would notice if you were to see this sight again, would be the stunning waning crescent Moon - only a thin crescent, yet by far the largest and brightest object on the photograph. Additionally, the Moon lay dangerously close to the star marking the tip of the teapot in the constellation of Sagittarius. The Moon was so close infact, that due to its orbit around the Earth (opposite to that of the Earth's rotation), it actually occulted (covered up) the star! The second most prominant object would be bright Venus, now known as the "Morning Star", and situated to the upper-left of the Moon. Without the prescence of the Moon, Venus would be without a doubt the brightest object in the morning sky. Mars would be next, and inexperienced sky watchers may have trouble picking it out, as it lay only a few degrees to the left from another red object of a similar brightness: Alpha-Scorpii, also known as Antares (Greek, for Rival of Mars). Finally, if you were to look very low, you would see a small twinkling dot - the tiny rocky planet Mercury, visible in this image as a tiny dot above the tree at the very bottom of the photo. This was quite a favourable return of Mercury for southern observers. Mercury was far enough away from the Sun to escape the bright glare, and was able to reveal itself to the pre-dawn sky watchers.