Tonight: Mercury is 1° to the lower left of Venus. Look for Venus and Mercury very low in the west about 30 minutes after sunset. Venus can be seen with the unaided eye in the glow of the early evening twilight. Mercury is best seen with binoculars. For observers in…

Tonight: Mercury passes less than 1° south, of Venus. Look for the pair of planets in the west about 30 minutes after sunset. Venus is shining at -3.8 magnitude. Mercury is at -0.2 magnitude. Use binoculars to help find Mercury below Venus. This is the closest the two planets will…

Tonight: A fat waning gibbous Moon rises 8° north of east 1¼ hours after sunset. The Moon is below the Great Square of Pegasus.

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Tonight: Mercury is 1.2° to the lower right of Venus. Look for the pair of planets in the west about 30 minutes after sunset. Venus is much brighter than Mercury. Venus is shining at -3.8 magnitude. Mercury is at -0.4 magnitude. Binoculars and a clear view of the horizon will…

Tonight: The Moon rises 8° south of east in the early evening twilight. Look for the “Big Moon” effect. Sometimes when a nearly Full Moon is near the horizon, it looks bigger than normal. When the Moon gets higher in the sky it doesn”t look as big. The reason for…

Tonight: Venus and Jupiter are 120° apart and closing. Look for Venus very low in the west. Binoculars will help pick it out of the glow of the evening twilight. Jupiter is easy to see in the SSE. The two brightest planets are moving closer to each other each day.…

Tonight: Look for the most compact trio of Mercury, Venus and Saturn. This grouping of planets is tough to see. You”ll need a clear view to the western horizon. Look about 30 minutes after sunset. Venus will be easier to see than Mercury or Saturn in the bright evening twilight.…

Tonight: Neptune is at opposition overnight. Opposition occurs when a planet is opposite the Sun in the sky. When Neptune is near opposition, it”s a little easier to see than usual. Look with binoculars or a telescope for Neptune 2.4° northwest of the 2.8 magnitude star Delta Capricorni. Neptune is…

Tonight: Venus and Saturn are 0.5° apart. Saturn can be found to the right of Venus. Both Saturn and Venus set less than an hour after the Sun sets. Look to the west, close to the horizon, with binoculars about 30 minutes after sunset. Observers in southern Texas, Florida and…

Tonight: The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks in the early morning hours. Look for the shooting stars after the Moon sets around 2 a.m. and before the start of morning twilight. The meteors will seem to radiate from the area of the constellation of Perseus. Perseus can be found about halfway…

Tonight: The gibbous Moon is far to the south. The southern most Moon transits about 1¼ hours after sunset. Overnight, watch for the Perseid Meteor Shower. Every August the Earth passes through a swarm of space debris left over from an old comet. The debris rains down on the Earth…

Tonight: Mercury is 5° to the lower right of Venus and closing. Saturn is 3° to the upper left of Venus. Look about 25 minutes after sunset in the glow of the evening twilight. Binoculars will be needed to pick the planets out of the Sun”s glare.

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Tonight: Venus is now setting about 45 minutes after the Sun as seen from a latitude of 40°. Look for Venus in the WNW very close to the horizon about 30 minutes after sunset. Binoculars will help you spot Venus. As the weeks go by, Venus will be easier to…

Tonight: Mercury is at superior conjunction. Superior conjunction is the point in Mercury”s orbit, when it”s on the other side of the solar system from the Earth. Mercury is not visible when it”s near superior conjunction. Mercury moves quickly though. By mid August, the planet will be visible in the…

Tonight: Mars and Saturn are almost 10° apart. The pair of planets are becoming more difficult to see each night as they drop lower into the evening twilight. Look for Mars and Saturn low in the west at dusk. Saturn is to the lower right of Mars.

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Tonight: The crescent Moon is very near the Pleiades star cluster. Look in the early morning hours in the eastern sky. The cluster will be to the lower left of the Moon. The Moon will pass over some of the stars of the Pleiades but the occultations won”t be visible…

Tonight: In the morning hours, look at the Moon with a small telescope to see the formation known as the Straight Wall. Also know as Rupes Recta, the formation looks like a bright line on the Moon. The line is a cliff or escarpment, 70 miles long. If seen when…

Tonight: Jupiter and Venus are 150° apart. Jupiter is easy to see. Look for bright Jupiter in the SSE at dusk. The giant planet is shining at -2.6 magnitude. Venus is still a challenge to see. Look for Venus very low in the WNW about 30 minutes after sunset. Use…

Tonight: Mars, Saturn and Regulus are spaced out at 7° intervals. Look to the west at dusk for the three objects. Saturn is in the middle. Mars is 7° to the upper left of Saturn. Regulus is 7° to the lower right of Saturn. Regulus is very close to the…

Tonight: The globular star cluster M-13 is high overhead this evening. M-13 is located in the constellation of Hercules. With binoculars, M-13 looks like a fuzzy star. Through a telescope, the star cluster appears as a swarm of faint stars in the shape of a ball. M-13 is about 25,000…

Tonight: The waning gibbous Moon rises in the east near the end of astronomical twilight. The end of astronomical twilight is defined as the time when the Sun is 18° below the horizon. After the end of astronomical twilight, the sky is as dark as it”s going to get. Not…

Tonight: Regulus, Saturn and Mars span 12° in the western evening sky. Look for the three objects in a diagonal line across the sky. Regulus is to the lower right. Mars is to the upper left. Saturn is in the middle. Look about 1 hour after sunset. Saturn is the…

Tonight: Mercury is 30° to the lower left of the star Aldebaran. Look for Mercury in the morning sky an hour before sunrise. Mercury will be very low in the ENE. The quick moving planet is 15° from the Sun and moving about a degree closer to it each day.…

Tonight: Venus is 10° east of the Sun. Try looking for Venus about 15 minutes after sunset with binoculars. Venus will be very close to the WNW horizon. Venus is still quite a challenge to spot. In the coming weeks and months, Venus will be much easier to see. It”s…

Tonight: Mars and Saturn are now 2.3° apart and spreading farther apart each day. Look for Mars to the left of Saturn. The two are low in the west at the end of evening twilight. The gibbous Moon is to the east of the star Antares. Jupiter is shining bright…