Summary: The five brightest planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter) are converging in the evening sky this month -- the prelude to a one of the finest planet-gatherings in years in early May. The Moon and Saturn were remarkably close together on April 16, when sky watchers in Europe saw an occultation of the ringed planet.

Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.

	Photographer, Location, Date	Larger images	Comments
	Wah!, Hong Kong, April 16, 2002	#1, #2, #3	Wah! captured these images of the April 16th crescent Moon from the Tsim Sha Tsui district of Hong Kong. Moon-photo details: CASIO QV-2900UX with full 8X optical zoom.
	Denis Joye, 15 km south of Paris, France, April 16, 2002	#1, #2	D. Joye captured these images of a close encounter between the crescent Moon and Saturn using an EPSON 3000 digital camera held behind a Super Plössl 40mm eyepiece and a MEADE LX10 8" telescope.
	Thierry Legault, 100 km from Paris, France, April 16, 2002	#1, #2	Photo details: Olympus E-10 digital camera connected to a 7" Mak-Cass telescope.
	Dennis Mammana, San Diego, CA, USA April 14, 2002	#1, #2, more	These twilight photos by Dennis Mammana show the 2-day-old crescent Moon and Venus side by side, and four planets in the western sky (annotated).
	Sal Viviano, Michigan, USA April 14, 2002	#1, #2	Photo details. Moon and Venus: 200mm piggy back lens at f2.8; Kodak Max 800;exposure 10 sec. Moon with Earthshine: through the prime focus of a 10" f6.3 LX200 telescope; Kodak Royal Gold 400; exposure 8 sec.

• Penny Gillen of Wasilla, AK, took this picture of the Moon with Earthshine on April 15.
• On April 15, Edward Champ captured this image of the crescent Moon with Earthshine and the planet Mars nearby.