Prepare for the planetary parade

Now that we have the total lunar eclipse out of the way, let's turn our attention to other coming attractions in our nightly celestial showcase.

One thing for sure, I love a parade, and the flashier the better. Well, we have a really flashy planetary parade coming up beginning this week and extending into November and possibly even into the new year.

Now, as many of you are by now aware, I am not a morning astronomer, unless there is something worth getting up for, and this parade will absolutely be it.

We will be starting about an hour before local sunrise, which won't really be too bad because at this time of year that is only about 6 a.m. MDT. We need to find a clear, unobstructed eastern horizon with nothing in the way to block our view.

Kicking off our celestial parade on Thursday morning, Oct. 8, will be a very slender, almost 26-day old crescent moon just to the right of the very bright planet Venus. Located just below them -- in order -- are the reddish planet Mars, and the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter.

There is also a bright star just to the left of the Venus/moon pair and that is Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, the Lion. If you have a really clear horizon and are standing on a ladder or chair you might glimpse the very tiny planet Mercury just clearing the horizon.

Don't worry if you can't see it, the pinprick of light that is the planet will be rising a little higher over the next few days to its highest point for this showing on Oct. 14, plus we will have the moon to help on Oct. 11.

On Oct. 9, the crescent moon has moved down to between Mars and Jupiter. Just because the moon has moved, don't lose track of Mars, Venus and Jupiter because they will be moving closer to each other each day. You might track them each day to see how much closer they are.

Oct. 17-18: Mars and Jupiter make their closest approach. They will be less than a degree apart, keeping in mind that the width of a full moon is one-half a degree.

Binoculars will make a nice showing of the pair, a small telescope will show at least two of the four Galilean moons. Callisto will be below Jupiter and Europa will be above. Ganymede and Io will be crossing the face of the planet and casting shadows on Jupiter's face.

Now for a short pause for a word of explanation. The three planets only look like they are close. They are in actuality lined up along our line of sight looking out toward the far edge of our galaxy.

In reality Venus is some 52 million miles from Earth, Mars is some 220 million miles away, and Jupiter is an even further 52 million miles from us. If we really want to make a fine point of it, the star Regulus is 77.63 light-years away.

Keeping in mind that a light-year is almost six-trillion miles, that is the number six with 12 zeros behind it.

Stay tuned, because there is more of this planetary parade to follow.

SKY WATCH: New moon on Monday, Oct. 12.

NEXT WEEK: More early morning planets and more astronomical blathering.