Sunlight in the Oasis

At this time of year, the dawn and sunrise are right in line with my desk table window. Which, for dawn, is nice. With the actual rise of the sun, it is blinding so I hurry to type this before it crests the hill and I have to shutter down, cutting off the very soft, very subtle, but very cool wind wafting in. It's not exactly 'What light through yonder window breaks?' as no Juliet or indeed, no Romeo either, awaits but for true, it is the east and the light of the sun making magic on the clouds before appearing, as changeable as a lovers' face (maybe more reliable).

I'd actually gotten up before the dawn to check if could see the following (gathered from a number of sources):


Four planets will huddle close together, visible to the naked eye, in the predawn sky May 9 - 11th.

Venus and Jupiter will be easy to spot hanging low in the east as dawn brightens on May 10. They are the brightest objects in the night sky after the Moon. Venus, the brighter of the two, will be to the right of Jupiter.

Mercury will be visible to the lower right of Venus, about the same distance from Venus to Jupiter. It won't be as bright but its proximity to Venus will help you find it. To the lower left of Jupiter you'll find Mars, which may be too low and faint to see without the aid of binoculars.

So, what did I see out there this morning? A starry sky covered with gauze (which pretty much came out black in the few shots I tried). I thought maybe I was going blind, but no, that wasn't the case, it was just one of those weird skies, a scrim of cloud cover obscuring exactly what I was seeing. Ah well, maybe tomorrow. If you wake up early yourself, and you don't live in a light polluted area, step outside...see what you can see.

I found an incredible site for sky views on any given night, called, simply enough, Planets - The Night Sky Atlas. If you have any interest at all in star and planet gazing, this is worth a look.

Something is going on with Blogger at the moment that is not accepting photos right now, so it's a good time to hit Go!

Have a mellow Monday. Do something minor that matters.