Even the bright lights of New York City couldn't swamp this celestial spectacle.
Alexander Krivenyshev of WorldTimeZone.com photographed a gorgeous predawn sky show Thursday morning (Feb. 20), capturing the crescent moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the red star Antares arcing over the Big Apple.
Krivenyshev, who was observing from the New Jersey city of West New York, also homed in on the triangle formed by the moon, Saturn and Jupiter, snapping a more zoomed-in shot of the trio.
This alignment was no one-off thing; these planets will remain clustered in the predawn sky for a while longer yet, so you can catch them yourself if you're willing to rise before the sun. The moon will become a lesser and lesser participant over the next few days, however, for it's waning toward its blacked-out new phase, which takes effect on Sunday (Feb. 23).
Antares' days are numbered, too, but in a much more permanent way. The star, which is located about 600 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Scorpio, is a red supergiant that's nearly burned up all of its nuclear fuel. Once that process finishes, Antares will die in a massive supernova explosion whose brightness will briefly rival that of the entire Milky Way galaxy.
Editor's note: If you captured an amazing astronomy photo and would like to share it with Space.com for a story or gallery, send images and comments to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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- Antares: Red star near the end of its life
Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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