APOD 1.8

This picture, "Moon and Planets in the Morning" caught my eye for several reasons. First off the picture itself is almost surreal looking, and does not even appear to be possible to find on any place on Earth. This is the beauty of the celestial world, and modern photography however, which is improving daily. The picture is also very unique in that it captures on film a rare phenomenon that can only be viewed at this time of year. This event is the positioning of Mercury, Venus, and Saturn such that they can all be viewed in the sky at the same time. However this event is now fading in its intensity, as the 3 planets are beginning to drift apart and Mercury is becoming invisible against the horizon as it slowly moves down in the celestial sphere. This event was of particular interest to me even, as I was able to catch a glimpse of this planetary setup on one early morning several days ago. As I was driving to school, I saw three oddly bright pinpricks of light in the morning sky, which I found out later that afternoon from Mr. Percival, were Mercury, Venus, and Saturn.