Summary: July 13, 2001, marked the beginning of a month-long planet show for stargazers. Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury, the Moon and a giant red star named Aldebaran have participated in a dazzling series of conjunctions before dawn this month and last. The latest close encounter on August 5th and 6th was between Jupiter and Venus -- the two brightest planets. See "Morning Coffee and Planets" for more information.

Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.

	Photographer, Location, Date	Larger images	Comments
	Mike Klensch, Skagway, Alaska August 13, 2001	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, more	M. Klensch: "We finally have enough darkness [in Alaska] to see the stars and aurora. I was watching the morning planets and looking for Perseid meteors on Aug. 13 when I spotted my first auroras of the new season."
	Dennis Mammana, Southern Calif. August 12, 2001	#1, more	D. Mammana: "Venus & Jupiter shine over the eastern horizon as the first light of dawn illuminates Mt. Laguna in Southern California." Photo details: Eight second exposure at 5:21 a.m., shot with a Canon 85mm f/1.2 lens (at f/2.8) on Kodak 100VS film. "
	Duane Clausen, Menominee,MI August 7, 2001	#1, #2, more	Photo details: 200 speed film, 28mm lens @ 1.8, 30 second exposures. Photo #2 shows the Pleiades above the grain silo.
	Marie-Georges Bélanger and Sébastien Giguère, Mount Megantic, Quebec, Canada, August 5, 2001	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7	These breathtaking photos were captured at the Mount-Megantic Popular Observatory, near the border between Quebec and New Hampshire.
	Mark S Deprest, Ann Arbor, MI August 5, 2001	#1	The full-sized version of this starry photo shows Jupiter and the Galilean satellites (top to bottom Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa) along with brilliant Venus. Photo details: Pentax 35mm manual camera at the prime focus of a 5" f/5 homebuilt Jaegers refractor. 2 min. exposure on Fujicolor 400 Superia film.
	Schindler Leung & Howard Ho, Hong Kong, Aug. 5, 2001	#1	This dazzling image of the Moon was captured at the Space Observers' Yuen Long Observatory in Hong Kong. Photo details: Exposure: 1/125 F/3.9; ISO: 112; telescope: Vixen 102mm Refractor w/o ED; eyepiece: Meade Super Possel 26 mm; Mount: Vixen GP; Camera: Nikon Coolpix 950
	Thad V'Soske, San Diego, CA, July 19, 2001	#1, #2	Thad captured photo #1 at 5 am on July 19th along Sunrise Hwy in Mt. Laguna California using Kodak E100VS film; 12 sec exposure; 50mm lens at f/5.6. Photo #2 shows the planets on July 17th, captured using Kodak E100VS film; 8 sec exposure; 135mm lens at f/5.6.
	Mark S Deprest, Ann Arbor, MI July 17, 2001	#1	This photo entitled "Busy Morning" shows, from top to bottom, an airplane trail, The Pleiades, Saturn, The Moon, Venus, Aldeberan, The Hyades, another airplane trail and a street light. Photo details: Pentax 35mm manual camera, 35mm f/3.5 wide angle lens, tripod-mounted, 20 sec exposure with Fujicolor 800 Superia X-Tra film.
	Camilla Bacher, Boulder, CO, July 15, 2001	#1, more	This photo shows Saturn and Venus during their close conjunction on July 15th with the International Space Station streaking by.
	Dirk Obudzinski, Joshua Tree National Park, USA July 17, 2001	#1, #2, #3, more	Photo #3 shows Jupiter and Mercury very near the horizon. See if you can spot Mercury. Photo details: Nikon EM Camera, 50mm lens, f/2.0, 6 to 12 sec. exposures on Kodak Royal Gold 400 film.
	Dominic Cantin, Quebec, Canada, July 26, 2001	#1	The thumbnail doesn't do justice to this picture. The full-sized version reveals Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the streaking International Space Station! Photo details: 35mm@f/4; 25 seconds; fuji superia 800
	Leonard Lakey, Wichita, Kansas, USA Aug. 5, 2001	#1	L. Lakey: "Two planets (Jupiter and Venus) and three moons? I took this picture using my Olympus D-510 set for 0.5 second exposure with fill-in flash. The flash illuminated the tree leaves but also created the phantom moons."
	Chris Grohusko, El Paso, Texas , Aug. 6, 2001	#1, #2	These photos show brilliant Jupiter and Venus -- bright enough to distract driver sfrom road signs and street lights. Photo details: 50 mm Pentax 1.7 lens stopped to f/2.8 on Fuji Super G 800 Film on Manual Setting; Pentax P3 Camera on Tripod with Throat Auto Lock Cable Release. 30-60 sec exposures.
	Schindler Leung & Howard Ho, Hong Kong, Aug. 5, 2001	#1, #2	These images of Jupiter and Venus were captured at the Space Observers' Yuen Long Observatory in Hong Kong. Photo details: Exposure: 1s F/2.6; ISO: 320 -0.3 EV; Focal Length: 7.2 mm; Camera: Nikon Coolpix 950
	Stan Richard, Des Moines, Iowa, August 6, 2001	#1, #2, more	S. Richard "You will notice the star mu Geminorum right between Jupiter and Venus in these photos, very neat. I used Fuji Superia 800 film for these 2 shots, 70mm at f/4 & 420mm at f/8."
	Joe Wheelock, UT McDonald Observatory, near Ft. Davis, Texas, August 6, 2001	#1	J. Wheelock captured this picture of Jupiter and Venus using an Olympus C-2020 zoom digital camera. The dome is that of the 82" Otto Struve Telescope. The constellation Orion is also visible in the full-sized version. Photo details: 16 sec. exposure at f/2
	Jimmy Westlake, Yampa, Colorado, July 17, 2001	#1, #2	J. Westlake captured these photos of the July 17, 2001 grouping of the waning crescent moon and planets Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter. Photo details: Nikon FE-2, 10 second exposure, Kodak Max 400 film. Photo #1 50 mm lens @ f1.8, photo #2 210 mm lens @ f4.0.
	Joe Orman, Phoenix, AZ, July 19, 2001	#1, more	This beautiful photo by Joe Orman shows a pre-dawn close encounter between Earth's moon and mercury. The scene was captured by Joe in Phoenix, Arizona using Fuji Provia 100 slide film with Olympus OM-1 35mm camera on fixed tripod, scanned with Nikon Coolscan LS-10E.
	Tom A. Warner, Rapid City, SD, USA Aug. 5, 2001	#1, #2, #3	The two bright "stars" are Jupiter and Venus. Photo details: Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera.
	Stefan Stumpf, Germany, Aug. 6, 2001	#1, #2	These pictures feature Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the red star Aldebaran. Click for a labeled photo. Photo Details: Olympus C2020Z digital camera. Exposure: 2 - 4 sec. Focal length 35mm - 105mm.
	Stan Richard, Des Moines, Iowa, July 15, 2001	#1, more	S. Richard "Here's a shot I took of the closest conjunction of Venus & Saturn, 0.7 degrees apart on July 15, 2001. In the foreground is the Drake Municipal Observatory in Des Moines, Iowa."
	Rick Stankiewicz, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, July 12 - 19, 2001	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5	Photographer Rick Stankiewicz captured a week-long series of planetary conjunctions described in the Science@NASA article "Morning Coffee and Planets." Photos: #1 July 15th; #2 July 14th; #3 July 16th; #4 July 19th; #5 no planets but a beautiful sunrise on July 12th.
	Geoff Sims, Sydney, Australia, July 16, 2001	#1	Photo details: Nikon F70 camera, Fuji Superia 400 film, f/3.5.
	Waldemar Villamayor Venialbo, Asunción, Paraguay Aug 6, 2001	#1	Venus and Jupiter appear among the colorful pink clouds of dawn. Photo details: EPSON PhotoPC 650 (digital camera)
	Gregg Thomas, Oswego, New York Aug 5, 2001	#1	The two bright "stars" in this picture are Jupiter and Venus. Photo details: Kodak DC3200 Digital Camera
	Mark Cunningham, Craig, CO, July 17, 2001	#1	Photo details: 50mm lens f2.8, 200asa Fuji film for 30 sec. Saturn, Moon, Aldebaran, Venus appear in the upper right corner. Jupiter and Mercury are in the lower left.