Five, counting the one I was standing on... ;-)

This morning I had to cover the 7am to 3pm shift at the store, so I was up before 6. Thanks to Stardate, I was alerted to a favorable apparition of Mercury... and sure enough, there it was! Only the fourth time I've ever seen it (the first was during the 1970 solar eclipse whose line of totality transected the croquet game I was part of). Although clouds were moving in ahead of a serious cold front (snow showers before noon!), I managed to spot Jupiter and Saturn, too.

If you've a mind to, and have clear weather and an unobscured eastern horizon, check out Mercury and Venus just before dawn for the next couple of days. Jupiter will be almost overhead (in Gemini) and Saturn high in the southwest (near Aldebaran in Taurus).

E'