The Moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter
On 9 September 2015, there was a relatively close conjunction of three planets and the Moon. This purely random alignment gave a series of fine sights in the early morning sky as the moon 'caught up' with the three planets. By the 11the the moon will be virtually invisible, but Mercury will be just over the horizon just before sunrise for those blessed with clear skies and a low horizon.
Venus, Mars and Jupiter will be even closer together soon, closest on 27/28 September, then Venus will start to fade and Jupiter won't be at its brightest until March and Mars until June 2016.
In the photo below, taken through patchy cloud, Jupiter is at bottom left, Mars is just visible slightly above the line joining Jupiter and the moon, Venus is the very bright, slightly flared project near the top. The star Regulus in the constellation Leo is just visible to above and to the left of Venus. All very basic equipment - this was shot with a £30 second hand Canon EOS 10D and 28mm wide angle lens, handheld (braced against a window frame) 1/10 of a second at ISO800.
