Planets at Dawn

The planets have been giving quite a show these past few weeks. If you happen to awaken just before dawn, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are all in a line. This is an excellent opportunity to see Venus at half phase, and growing more gibbous as we approach Thanksgiving. Mercury is still visible, but is slowly making its way back close to the Sun. Its phase is similar to Venus’s, but because it is so low in the sky, it boils in the atmosphere, appearing, in my telescope, not as a crescent, but as a writhing, misshapen dot.

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