Night Sky Photography -- 01-31-2019 -- Moon, Jupiter & Venus Before Sunrise

This morning I woke to clear skies and a beautiful meeting of three heavenly bodies in the eastern sky. 

Of course "meeting" is subjective from the point of view of those of us standing on Earth. Even at their closest point of opposition Venus and Jupiter are about 416 million miles apart. Also despite being the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter appears very small from Earth, like a dim star. By contrast, Venus is the brightest star in the morning sky right now. Luna is passing by both of them on her way to setting in the east towards the New Moon phase.

More planetary photography coming soon, including another planetary conjunction on February 18th and the largest supermoon of the year on the 19th.