It’s a gathering of the planets.
Over the next few days you can catch Mars, Jupiter and Venus in the early morning sky.
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The trio gather in the eastern sky around 4 a.m. EDT.
Venus is 104 million km from Earth while Mars is 334 million km from Earth. Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is more than 900 million km from Earth.
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The planets appear so close together due to the orbits of all the planets, including Earth.
Venus, with its highly reflective clouds is the brightest of the trio. Though Jupiter is the most distant, its clouds, are also highly reflective making it the second brightest of them.
Mars doesn’t have a high albedo (reflectivity) so it’s the dimmest of the trio. But there’s no mistaking its orange colour.
If you’re willing to brave the early morning hours, you can just pop outside to catch them. If you have a pair of binoculars, you can get a close-up look.
The trio will move apart over the next few nights, with Venus and Mars coming together on Nov. 1 to 3.
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