Early Morning Sky Spectacle with Stars & Planets

Earlier this morning just before five I woke up and discovered that I had left my cell phone in my car. I went out to get it and was astounded at the clear, bright, star-filled sky.  It was a celestial winter wonderland, as the constellations I was seeing will be in the same part of the sky during the early evening next season.  Still, it was such a stark contrast with the relatively dim autumn evening sky as I saw Orion (with its "Belt", Betelgeuse, and Rigel), Taurus (with the Pleiades and Aldeberan), Auriga (with Capella), Canis Major (with our neighboring star Sirius, the brightest in the night sky), Canis Minor (with Procyon), and Gemini (with Castor and Pollux)...just to name the brightest sights...

I didn't hang around outside to watch the spectacle and the later sunrise...I still had some serious sleeping and dreaming to do.  But I heard the other day on National Public Radio (WUFT/89.1 in Gainesville) that just before dawn, if you face eastward, you can see four planets: Saturn, Venus, Jupiter...and the most difficult, Mercury.  I'm going to have to see if I can rouse myself into consciousness in the next day or two at that time for this visual treat...