Planet cluster in the waning minutes of darkness

by Gregg Blandin


I woke up at 5:00 A.M. to be greeted by a wonderful sight in the eastern sky. The Moon, Saturn and Venus were all together in a small cluster, I suppose that they are all within about 4 degrees. I set up my Orion short tube (the only thing I have to give me that wide of a field) and viewed them at 10X. All three just fit quite nicely in the field. I bumped up the power to 57 and could see the rings of Saturn quite easily, and although the bright glare was hard to see through, Venus appears to be at about 2/3 phase, almost opposite of the Moon's. Hope other's got to see this sight as well. End of report.