Mercury too is now visible in the east at dawn, with maximum western elongation due to take place in just two days' time on 30 July 2013.
I viewed these 3 planets this morning from home with my LX-90 8" SCT. Good views!
I also took the following wide-field image using a 70-300mm Canon lens at 70mm and a Canon EOS 60D; the 3 planets are visible in the same frame. The close-up images of the 3 planets were taken at the same time at prime-focus with the LX-90 and the dSLR with just one-shot each; this shows all 3 planets at the same scale; however, the brightness adjustments of each were done differently.
Here are some data for the planets, on Sun 28 July 2013 at 6:45am local time:
Mercury: Diameter 8.2"; Mag +0.6; Phase 38%
Mars: Diameter 3.9", Mag +1.6; Phase 91%
Jupiter: Diameter 32.8", Mag -1.9; Phase 97%
Apparent distances: Jupiter to Mars: 2 deg 40 arcmin; Mars to Mercury: 6 deg 58 armin
Elevations (above local horizon):
Jupiter: 21 deg 54 arcmin
Mars: 19 deg 14 arcmin;
Mercury: 13 deg 48 armin
Click this link for a full-sized image:
http://img15.picoodle.com/i57s/starfind ... _u8s7b.jpg
