Mercury,and a stunning Planetary line-up.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

As the weather forecast predicted clear skies in the early hours,I made plans to get out and get looking,if I could wake up in time.

 I'm a light sleeper anyhow,and waking at 5.20am,I could already see Venus blazing away through the bedroom window.

 As usual,I had to attend to the Cat ('He who must be fed'),before venturing out.

 A local field has a fairly clear aspect to the East,so I headed there.

  As forecast,the sky was pleasingly clear,so I checked the focus of my 10x50 Bins on m42 and 'The Beehive' cluster.

 Venus was like a beacon through the bins,and Jupiter and Mars (my favourite Planet) showed discs,as expected.

 However,this session was all about the big picture,and the elusive inner Planet.

  Whilst the sky at the zenith was sparkling,close to the horizon was a different story with a definate 'murky zone' mixed with the inevitable light pollution.

 However,at around 6.10am,I got to spot Mercury,pleasingly framed by a gap in the trees surrounding the field.

 The bins showed a pinkish disc,similar in size and brightness to Mars.

  This is only my second viewing of Mercury,and I was pleasantly reminded of the 'buzz' I got when I saw it for the first time,as an evening object, in April 2012.

 A very worthwhile early start to the day!

[mapstar]

Great early morning report and lovely conjunction of the planets to view.

I've not caught Mercury myself yet but may try this week

Damian

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice report. Bagging four planets in a single session is a fairly rare occurrence

[Pete Presland]

Very nice report I didn't get a look today, but I have had couple of views in the last week. It's a lovely view at the moment.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[laudropb]

Very nice report. Got up at 4:30 myself and was surprised to find clear skies. A short walk to a darker site with a fairly good Eastern horizon and I was set. Nice to see some of the winter constellations and the early rise was well worth it. Like you the horizon was a bit murky, but eventually Mercury appeared and with Mars Jupiter and Venus made a lovely planetary conjunction.