Do not miss Venus line up with Jupiter and Mercury earlier than dawn on Sept. 1

Early risers are in for a spectacular present subsequent week, when Jupiter, Venus and Mercury kind a planetary lineup within the predawn sky on Sept. 1.

Look above the jap horizon within the hours previous daybreak on Sept. 1 to search out Venus shining among the many stars of the constellation Cancer, with Jupiter seen as a vibrant level of sunshine roughly 20 levels to the amber planet’s higher proper. It’s helpful to recollect the width of your clenched fist held at arm’s size accounts for roughly 10 levels of sky.

Mercury, meanwhile, will rise roughly an hour before the sun to form a near-perfect diagonal line with Venus and Jupiter that traces the path of the ecliptic — the narrow plane in Earth’s sky that contains the orbits of all eight solar system planets. The latecomer will swiftly become lost in the glare of the morning sun, so be sure to find a spot with a clear view of the eastern sky to ensure a view of the planetary formation.

The planetary trio will indeed present a spectacular sight to the naked eye, but a telescope with an aperture of 6-inches or more will help reveal the four large Galilean moons surrounding the gas giant Jupiter, and display the moon-like phases of Venus and Mercury.

As all the time, the best care should be taken to by no means level a telescope or binoculars within the course of the rising solar — notably when viewing Mercury, which by no means strays removed from the horizon — as doing so will completely harm your eyesight.

Stargazers involved in seeing the planets for themselves ought to learn our guides detailing the perfect telescopes and binoculars for exploring the post-sunset sky. Photographers trying to improve their gear forward of the subsequent large skywatching occasion also needs to try our roundups of the perfect cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor’s Note: If you seize a picture of Mercury with Venus and Jupiter and need to share it with Space.com’s readers, please ship your picture(s), feedback, identify and the placement of your shoot to spacephotos@area.com.