Sounds like fun, fantasia!

The early-morning conjunction show isn't over yet. This morning around 6.30 local daylight time, I enjoyed the view of the two brightest planets, Jupiter and Venus, just 1 degree apart, with much dimmer Mars looking on from just a few degrees away. Spectacular!

Venus will pass Jupiter the next few days and pass close to Mars November 1-3, with the Moon passing by a few days later. Read more here.

It's been cloudy the past few mornings, and I'm not sure I've been up early enough to see the planets anyways. Hopefully I'll get a chance soon.

In other space news, apparently there is some kind of space item that's going to impact Earth on November 13th.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... -november/

The morning sky is still the place for planetary action this month. Mars, Jupiter, and Venus are all in the southeast before dawn, though not really close together. Before long Saturn will rise out of the dawn to join them, and later in January Mercury arrives, making it possible to see all 5 naked-eye planets at once.

But we don't have to wait that long for great things to watch. This coming Monday morning, December 7, a crescent Moon rises quite close to bright Venus. Later that day, the moon will pass in front of the planet for much of North America. Venus should be visible in daylight, especially with the moon to point the way.

Also that morning, the Moon-Venus pair will point the way to Comet Catalina, which at 6th-magnitude will likely require binoculars from all but dark skies - but comets are unusual enough that if the sky clears here I'll be up in the wee hours then. Read more here.

Catalina continues to rise into the northern skies as the month passes, making it easier to view from the Northern Hemisphere (until recently it was only visible from the Southern).

I would love to catch at least one sighting of this—5 planets in the pre-sunrise hours. Being winter here now, there is often abundant cloud and snow, but I will be grateful for even one morning of a clear view SE to SW.

My husband got up early to see that planetary line-up but said it was too cloudy also. They said we would see it pre-dawn, which makes it about 5.00 am for a good viewing.

Thanks for mentioning this, jo. It's cloudy here but I'm hoping to give it a shot when it does clear up next week.

The article notes that it has been 11 years since all 5 naked eye planets were visible at once. I consulted my records and found that I didn't see them all at that time; Mercury was too elusive. Hopefully we'll all meet with some success this time!

The news media today was all abuzz about a new hypothetical ninth planet based on orbital analysis of Sedna and other Kuiper Belt objects. Interesting stuff!

was hoping to get a look when I get up for work, but it's too cloudy, or I'm running so late I forget.
Saw some articles on "Planet 9" as some are already calling it. It would be quite the find for the amature skywatcher. How big is your best lens stargazer?

Puddleglum, it's likely that planet is around magnitude 22, beyond the range of most large telescopic surveys to date.

The clouds finally parted overnight so I tried finding all 5 planets this morning. There were still some clouds and while I was able to spot Mercury low in the southeast, it was actually Saturn, higher in the southeast, that eluded me (due to clouds and twilight), preventing me from catching all 5 planets this time.

It may be a few days before I can try again thanks to the big snowstorm rolling into town tomorrow.

What a thrill to see that elusive Mercury, eh?! During the peak weeks of the 5-planet viewing, I was able to see them thrice. Clouds covered the sky much of the time during those two weeks, but thankfully three mornings were gloriously clear and I have a grand viewing vista just eastward outside our village, by a beautiful old silo. And brilliant Venus never fails to put me in put me in awe. But across that expanse of sky, from SE to SW, the 5 planets hung. Glorious!

Some other big news is the fireball of January 30, 2016 at 6:15 p.m. EST. I was talking with one of our sons on the phone and just happened to wander over to the dining room window to look out over the darkening fields, when to my great joy, a long, bright streak with a ball on the end appeared in the SE sky. It probably lasted 2 seconds, but what a sight! Our Geoff heard me exclaim over and over "oh man, what was that?". I reported it on the American Meteor Society, and obviously was not nearly the only one who saw it that night. But the area in North American in which it was seen was very large: VA, DC, PA, MD, NC, NY, NJ, DE, MA, Ontario, OH, CT, WV, KY, MI, VT, TN, SC, NH and GA—967 people reported this spectacular sighting. Truly unforgettable!

How awesome you got to see that fireball, jo! I saw reports on the national news about that, including some of video. Most impressive.

Friday evening I was outside stargazing with Ryadian's father and caught a much smaller, less spectacular meteor (perhaps magnitude -2.0). Still fun.

And I did catch a view of the 5 planets in the morning sky once before Mercury sank back into the solar glare. The temperature that morning was a toasty -6F/-21C. (in contrast, we enjoyed a record high of 58F/14C yesterday, but the clouds moved in before dark).

Well I made an attempt to see the penumbral lunar eclipse this morning. It was literally setting behind the neighbors house at the time it was supposed to start, so I was standing in the doorway jumping up and down trying to see and my husband was cackling at me. It may have been my imagination, but the moon did look maybe a touch more yellow instead of blue/grey, but that could have been all the dust being kicked up into the atmosphere thanks to the wind.

This is my new favorite space picture ever. Did you all see this when NASA released it a couple days ago?

Space Bubble!

That is a very cool picture, fantasia. Thanks for sharing it!

The first transit (crossing) of Mercury across the sun since 2006 is coming up May 9. These are more common than the very rare transits of Venus (last in 2012 and next in 2117) but not as easy to see since Mercury is smaller and farther away. Proper eye protection - and a telescope - are a must; the best bet is too look for observatories or groups holding public viewing sessions (we attended one for Venus in 2012 but at the moment I can't find a local one for this event).

Read all about it here.

Mars is at opposition this week (opposite the sun in the sky and at its best for viewing). This is its best showing in 10 years. I had a chance to see it last night away from city lights, and it was a very deep red color, in contrast to the yellow-white of Jupiter (even though the planets are about the same in brightness).

The International Space Station puts on a show for the Northern Hemisphere this week. Normally it is visible only when the sun is below the horizon from the ground but the station is still in sunlight; since it passes in and out of earth's shadow about 16 times a day viewing opportunities are limited to shortly after sunset or before sunrise.

But for a few days around the solstice, it never enters the shadow, meaning it can be seen on any pass during the night, even in the wee hours. This is true May 26-30 this year. Read more here.

The storms have moved on long enough that my husband and I went outside last night and looked at Mars, both with the naked eye and telescope.

Our telescope can't focus enough to get a good view, other than a red blur, but it was very obviously red and bright.