The planets are in alignment so everything must be sweet, right?
The best time to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in alignment is about 6am. Space boffins say Jupiter will be clearest on Wednesday morning. On Thursday, Mars will be most visible. The best view of Venus will be on Sunday and Mercury on Monday.
Hunter astronomy expert Col Maybury said "the main thing about planets is they don't twinkle".
"Stare at the sky just before dawn," Col said.
"The alignment of the planets is fairly hard to see because it's a slight curve in the east that goes up very high."
Still, Col said it's worth getting up to see if you're keen because "there's so much history involved".
Ancient civilisations, such as the Aztecs, observed planetary alignments and "used the permutations and combinations of Venus for a calendar".
The planetary alignment brings to mind Galileo, who Col noted changed the world with his use of a new telescope to observe the heavens.
The Roman Catholic Church charged Galileo with heresy in 1633 for his theory that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.
"Up until then, the Earth was thought to be the centre of the universe," Col said.
Don't tell Col that the planetary alignment has some kind of deeper meaning.
Topics: "You're a renowned atheist Col, so this is just a bunch of rocks and gas in the sky going around the sun in a fancy order, right?"
Col: "Yeah, but all you've got to do is remember that little old couplet, My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles. And you've got all the planets there." [Poor Pluto misses out, as usual].
To that, we broke into a rendition of a children's song named Planets, from the cartoon Blue's Clues. "The sun's a hot star, Mercury's hot too, Venus is the brightest planet, Earth's home to me and you. Mars is the red one, Jupiter's most wide, Saturn's got those icy rings, Uranus spins on its side. Neptune's really windy and Pluto's really small. Well we wanted to name the planets and now we named them all."
To which Col replies: "Mercury's hot and cold". He's right. During the day, temperatures on the surface can reach 430 degrees. At night, temperatures on the surface can drop to minus 180 degrees.
Topics: "You wouldn't want to be there. Mind you, this winter has been pretty cold."
Col: "I think it's lovely because I've moved from Kurri Kurri to Boolaroo. One year at Kurri, it was minus 8.4 degrees."
Down beside Cockle Creek, Col is enjoying a nice climate change.
Topics: "So you're up early jogging in a pair of shorts and a singlet, saying 'it's beautiful and balmy this morning, innit?'
Col: "Not quite."
Return of the Sun
Speaking of the cold, the winter solstice fell on Tuesday - the shortest day and longest night of the year.
The solstice marks the "return of the sun", meaning the days will begin to get longer.
In paganism, this new sun is known as the "child of promise".
It's a time for celebrating new beginnings.
The winter solstice connects pagan origins to Christmas, as the northern hemisphere event falls on December 21.
To Christians, the child of promise represents Jesus. So he's a sun god and the son of god!
