FROM TODAY'S PRINT EDITIONS:
Regular visitors to this page, if they glance at the Astronomical Data section above, may have noticed that five of the seven heavenly bodies listed are all rising between about 5:20 and 6:30 a.m. EDT.
This is a prelude to the extraordinary conjunction next month of all the naked-eye planets except Saturn, low in the east. For about three weeks, early risers can watch Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter in a complex dance just before sunrise. Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies.