Waning moon meets Planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars

In the South-East during pre-dawn hours the moon can be seen orbiting from right to left, starting as a waning moon on April 14th to a waning crescent moon on April 17th. It will pass by closely to Jupiter, Saturn and Mars and will be positioned to the right of Jupiter on day 1 and will finish to the left of Mars by day 4. This will undoubtedly offer fantastic photo opportunities each day, with the potential to include the Milky Way, weather permitting. For best observation move away from light polluted areas such as cities and towns and observe in dark areas.

Day 1 - approx 04:20.
This will give the opportunity for a wide-angle lens photo. Weather permitting and with a good landscape, the moon will compliment Jupiter’s white, Saturns yellowish and Mars reddish colours for a lovely photo. In a low light location, you may be fortunate to capture the milky way in your image.

Day 2 - approx 04:20.
The moon will now be in the below middle of all three Planets. This day will most likely offer the best photo opportunity available with longer focal length lenses possibly usable, minus Mars optional. Again, In a low light location, you may be fortunate to capture the milky way in your image.

Day 3 - approx 04:45.
Mars will be positioned just above the moon, as it makes its first appearance as a crescent moon with light pollution hopefully not being a problem to include Mars in a photo.

Day 4 - approx 05:00.

The moon is far to the left of the Planets now so a wide-angle lens is a must. Important note - between 04:15 - 04:35, before the moon rises above the horizon this will be a great opppurtunity to photograph the Milky Way and the Planets without the moon illumination. This is a very brief window of opportunity so be sure to set the camera settings ahead of time. If you miss this window, you can try again the next day, but the window is much smaller.