Ecliptic Dwellers

The moon, the planets Saturn & Mars and the star Antares were in close proximity to one another early in the morning of Tuesday, April 26, 2016. All four reside along the ecliptic, the apparent celestial spherical path of the sun, moon, planets and constellation stars of the zodiac. This image, captured at 3:13 am CDT, shows from left: the waning gibbous moon, 0.20-magnitude planet Saturn and -1.32 planet Mars. Below Mars is the 1.03 magnitude star Antares--the heart of the constellation Scorpius. Image is a 2-second exposure at f/10, 1600 ISO and 55mm focal length. Camera looks south from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.