Venus blazes in the eastern sky well before dawn this month. The planet, which is now roughly half lit by the Sun, shines at a brilliant magnitude -4.4 just above its fellow planets Jupiter and Mars. All now lie below the underbelly of the constellation Leo, the Lion. On October 8, 2015, a faint crescent Moon led Venus into the daytime sky. With the Moon to guide the way, keen-eyed observers could see the planet well into the late morning and early afternoon. This image, taken hand-held with a borrowed and ancient DSLR and 18-55mm lens, shows Venus and the Moon just before noon local time on a slightly hazy day near Washington, DC. Venus is the little white dot at upper left.
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