Starship Asterisk*

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Sleeping late is one of the simple pleasures of summer vacation. This week, waking up early will be a pleasure, too.

Set your alarm for 30 minutes before sunrise. Venus and Jupiter are converging in the dawn sky for a beautiful conjunction that will wake you up faster than a cup of strong coffee. To see it, you'll need a clear view of the east-northeastern horizon and … that's all. No telescope is required. These are the two brightest planets in the Solar System, and they are visible to the naked eye even from light-polluted cities.

The show begins on August 15th with Venus and Jupiter little more than 2° apart. That means they would fit with ease inside the bowl of the Big Dipper, and you could hide the converging pair behind the palm of your outstretched hand.

Which is Jupiter and which is Venus? You can tell them apart by their luminosity: Venus shines 6 times more brightly than Jupiter, a result of Venus's super-reflective cloud cover and proximity to Earth. ...