Today was the final morning of our beach vacation and I decided to get up early to watch the sunrise and I was not disappointed!

There was a waning crescent moon accompanied by Jupiter that was low in the sky preceding the sunrise as well as the Orion constellation to the right of the moon/Jupiter pairing.  There was a line of thunderstorms off the coast that provided a great canvas for the electromagnetic waves of the Sun and this also made the early wakeup call worth it.

I started taking these pictures about 5:45 am and took them about 5 minutes apart:

Notice the Rayleigh scattering in the clouds with the deep orange colors that show up during sunrise and sunset and makes these times particularly beautiful when there are clouds on the horizon.  I’ve explained this here if you care to read more on the topic.

The last picture is significant for we that live in the Palmetto State and for those who don’t, Google what our state flag looks like.  Yes the South Carolina flag has a waxing crescent moon instead of this morning’s waning crescent moon but still I couldn’t help but be reminded of our great state flag.  If I had more photographic skills and more energy before my first cup of coffee I would’ve walked down to that palm tree and taken a photo looking up at the crescent moon to really resemble our flag.