Magnificent Mars and Jupiter photos

View larger. | Dennis Chabot of POSNE NightSky Astrophotography caught Jupiter and Mars on January 7, 2018, the day of their spectacular conjunction. On that morning, these 2 planets were about half a moon-diameter apart. In all the photos on this page, Jupiter is the brightest “star” visible. It’s also now the brightest object visible in the eastern half of your sky before dawn.

The planets Jupiter and Mars have been closing in on each other all week and, on Sunday morning – January 7, 2018 – came spectacularly close in the predawn sky. At conjunction, the two were only 0.25 degrees apart, or about half a moon-diameter. Very wonderful to see! Although they’ll be drawing farther apart in the mornings ahead, you can still see them before dawn no matter where you are on Earth. They’ll be located in the sunrise half of your sky, high above the sunrise point (southeast as seen from latitudes like those in North America and Europe). On January 10-12, 2018, the waning crescent moon will sweep past Mars and Jupiter. That’ll be another great photo opportunity.

Can you spot them? Yes! Just get up before dawn, look generally toward the sunrise, and your eye will light on Jupiter, the brightest starlike object in that part of the sky. Mars will be the reddish object nearby.

On the morning of January 7, the very bright planet Jupiter and fainter, reddish planet Mars were in conjunction. The star Zubenelgenubi was near them, and bright reddish Antares – Heart of the Scorpion in the constellation Scorpius – was below them.

On the mornings of January 10-12, 2018, the waning crescent moon will sweep past Jupiter and Mars. Read more.

Nikolaos Pantazis in Glyfáda, Greece captured the Jupiter (and satellites) and Mars conjunction on January 7, 2018. To the right is the star Zubenelgenubi, a double star and the Alpha star of the constellation Libra the Scales.

Elizabeth Worthy Clark at Greene County, Tennessee wrote on January 7: “Almost froze my fingers off getting this shot of Jupiter/Mars conjunction at 4:10 a.m.”

Karl Diefenderfer in Quakertown, Pennsylvania wrote: “I would rather brave 1° temperatures than to miss this conjunction of Jupiter/Mars because of clouds.”

Steven Bellavia in Mattituck, New York on January 7, 2018 (temperature 6 degrees F.) wrote: “Jupiter, with all 4 moons showing, and Mars, from 4:55 a.m. EST. This was the coldest I have ever been outside to image anything!”

View larger. | Bright object is Jupiter, with its 4 largest moons all seen to one side. Second-bright – to the right – is Mars. Chirag Upreti wrote on the morning of January 6, 2018: “Jupiter (and its moons) and Mars seen close together from Bronx, NYC. The cold temperatures here cause instant white plumes of exhaust to form from heating vents, the light pollution from the city illuminates this with the orange tinge.”

Brighter object Jupiter, fainter one Mars, on January 6, 2018 via Jenney Disimon in Sabah, North Borneo.

Alan Dyer in Gleichen, Alberta, Canada captured this image of the planets and the little double star Zubenelgenubi on the morning of January 4, 2018.

View larger. | In this photo by Michael Holland in Lakeland, Florida, you can see Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, Jupiter’s 4 largest moons.

Submit your Mars and Jupiter photo here

View larger. | Michael Holland in Lakeland, Florida also caught Mercury near the sunrise! He wrote: “Mercury did not disappoint this morning. Ambient temperature 28 degrees, wind chill of 22. Articles from EarthSky though keep me going, rain or shine to capture, these images (weather permitting).”

Jenney Disimon in Sabah, North Borneo caught Jupiter and Mars on January 5, 2018. Watch for a little star above them, Zubenelgenubi in the constellation Libra the Scales.

View larger. | Greg Hogan caught Mars and Jupiter near the star Zubenelgenubi in the constellation Libra on the morning of January 4, 2018. Mars and Jupiter will be closer on January 7! If you have binoculars, use them to glimpse Jupiter’s moon – enhance the color contrast between Mars and Jupiter – and see that Zubenelgenubi is a double star.

Steve Pond (@aboveeg on Twitter) sent this awesome shot of the planets before dawn on the morning of January 3, 2018.

Dennis Chabot of POSNE NightSky Astrophotography caught Jupiter and Mars on the morning of December 30, 2017.

Steve Pond (@aboveeg on Twitter) captured the planets on December 28 ” … from a very cold and frosty southern England.”

The planets Jupiter and Mars were relatively far apart when the waning crescent moon swept past them on the morning of December 13, 2017. The moon will be passing them again around January 10-12. See chart below.

Bottom line: Don’t miss the planets Mars and Jupiter in your predawn sky this weekend. Their conjunction is Sunday morning, when they’ll be only half a moon-diameter apart.