Venus, Mercury, and the Waning Moon

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day, on this November 2020 morning, early risers around planet Earth were treated to a waning Moon low in the east as the sky grew bright before dawn. From the Island of Ortigia, Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. This simple snapshot found the slender sunlit crescent just before sunrise. Never wandering far from the Sun in Earth’s sky, inner planets Venus and Mercury shared the calm seaside view. Also in the frame, right of the line-up of Luna and planets, is bright star Spica, alpha star of the constellation Virgo and one of the 20 brightest stars in Earth’s night.