Oh what a beautiful morning!

[kerrylewis]

Up around 3.00 to take advantage of the clear skies.

The parade of the planets started with Jupiter. Good view in the Dob with the GRS looking surprisingly colourful and lots of detail. The contrast booster filter helped.

Then Mars - still a tiny disc, followed by Venus and Saturn close together as the skies lightened. Interesting to think that we are seeing past the bright inner planet to paler Saturn way our there.

Lastly the moon crept above the rooftops - a beautiful slender crescent with the rest of the disc in pale earthshine.

All this and Catalina too. Our wonderful solar system

[Dave In Vermont]

Well put, Kerry! The early morning of late has been a fantastic show indeed!

I'm glad you're enjoying this fantastic spectacle,

In awe -

Dave

[Paul73]

Yep. It certainly felt good to be seeing Jupiter in all her glory on a nice steady night.

Are planets like boats when it comes to gender? ie. Always female even if they are called Dave?

Paul

[kerrylewis]

Yep. It certainly felt good to be seeing Jupiter in all her glory on a nice steady night.

Are planets like boats when it comes to gender? ie. Always female even if they are called Dave?

Paul

Jupiter has to be male - all the rest are female I think

And hello Dave - you have a few more hours to go!

[Drop Of Sun]

Nice report! I was happy to catch Jupiter before calling it a night, low in the sky. Just an hour for me, but glad to get something in. M51 was faint but hint of spiral there with my ten inch dob. Hope for a brighter view at SGL XI!

[davidowenrogers]

Was up at three as well and had a good imaging session of Jupiter watch the GRS advance across the face of the planet. Imaging was a little spoilt by dew for a while. I have to agree that the early morning display of the thin, cresent moon and the planets was spectacular and a real pleasure to just stand and watch.

[laudropb]

Nice report. I managed a session this morning too. My first clear sky since November. The planets were a wonderful sight and I finally caught up with Catalina. So well worth the early rise.

[Vega]

I'm still waiting for Catalina to reach respectable hours of the evening skies. She's almost there. As you may have guessed I'm, not an early bird )

[Norfolk star gazer]

Last night was perfect here, but I have the dreaded man flu and couldn't go out

Woke up at 5am to even better skies and it sounds like Jupiter was perfect this morning and would have been my first sighting of the GRS, but couldn't drag myself out. Blue skies here still, so hopefully the same conditions tonight and tomorrow. Saturn is in conjunction with Venus in the morning (I think).

[Special K]

Glad to hear I wasn't the only one to enjoy some rare good sky this morning! I was tricked by the GRS and thought I could detect a dark pimple and was thinking this was a shadow transit. Looking at the app later this morning I could see I was instead viewing the GRS I'm pretty sure. Seemed dark, and I wonder if others are finding the same thing? Or was it just in contrast to the South Tropical Zone which made it stand out? Either way, it was a magical morning!

[Stu]

Glad to hear I wasn't the only one to enjoy some rare good sky this morning! I was tricked by the GRS and thought I could detect a dark pimple and was thinking this was a shadow transit. Looking at the app later this morning I could see I was instead viewing the GRS I'm pretty sure. Seemed dark, and I wonder if others are finding the same thing? Or was it just in contrast to the South Tropical Zone which made it stand out? Either way, it was a magical morning!

They should be easy to tell apart. A shadow transit is jet black and appears as a small circle or oval. The GRS is much paler and larger, and nuzzles into the belt. It was centre stage at 5am this morning and no shadow transits were visible then so it seems likely you got the GRS. Only other thing it could have been is a barge, which appear as darker ovals along the edge of the belts.

[Pete Presland]

The morning sky has looked superb for quite a few months now. The addition of Saturn has made it even better, hopefully we get at least a look between the clouds tomorrow as Venus and Saturn are even closer than today.