A String of Lights
Venus, Jupiter and Mars command the pre-dawn sky, strung out in a nearly straight line above the east horizon. The first-magnitude star Spica crests the horizon a little before sunrise, adding a fourth point in the string of lights.
Of the three planets, Jupiter is highest, rising around 1:30am. Venus is more than 20 degrees below Old Jove and rises almost two hours later. But once over the horizon there should be no mistaking the Morning Star. About halfway between Venus and Jupiter is Mars, dim and orange-hued compared to the blazing glow of the other two planets. Test your eyes Saturday before dawn, when Mars is within a fraction of a degree of the 4th-magnitude star Zaniah, or Eta Virginis, the seventh-brightest star in the constellation Virgo.
Before dawn Thanksgiving day, the full moon is high in the west. Less than one degree away is Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the bull, which the moon will pass in front of in what’s called an occultation.