If you happen to be awake around dawn any time in the next few days, can I recommend going outside and looking east, about 45° up?
Venus and Saturn, the two brightest planets visible from Earth, are currently within a degree or so of each other – a conjunction. They are closest on Tuesday early morning, and with the 4th heatwave of the year building, I would think that the early mornings are likely to be clear.
I picked up a copy of Waitrose Weekend when popping in for some milk on the way back from my textile group yesterday afternoon. They rarely have any of these free papers left by Saturday afternoon, and I rarely read it (we use it for the hens), but, at the bottom of page 4, this phenomenon was described.
I happened to wake up soon after 4.30am this morning, and it was visible for nearly an hour: Saturn on the left and Venus on the right. The full moon was 180° from it, at around the same height. Truly magical. I’ll add a picture tomorrow.
It almost makes up for the full moon spoiling the Perseids this year.
