John Mosley was Program Supervisor of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles for 27 years and is the author of “Stargazing for Beginners” and “Stargazing with Binoculars and Telescopes”. He and his wife live in St. George where he continues to stargaze from his retirement home while serving on the advisory committee for Stellar Vista Observatory.
All three planets that are visible tonight are in the evening sky. These are Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter. Venus is brilliant low in the west for the hour after sunset where it shines far brighter than any star. You can see Venus well before sunset if you know precisely where to look, and it is […]
After a year of visibility Mars is finally leaving the nighttime sky as it slips behind the sun. It was brilliant last autumn and a fleet of spacecraft took advantage of its close approach to land on and orbit it early this year, but that was then. On the 26th it’s 24° from the sun […]
I focus on things in the sky that change, which is mostly the planets because they move continuously, so let’s start with Venus. Venus is by far the brightest planet (it’s closer to earth than the others and is highly reflective) and you don’t have to wait until late for it to rise. Venus appears […]
© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo Last week all five naked-eye planets were visible, this week we’re down to four, and soon it will be three.The brightest planet is the poetically-named “evening star” – Venus. Look for it in early evening twilight when it’s low in the west. The best time to look is […]
This is the last week until late December that all five naked eye planets will be visible on the same night, so here’s where they are. Venus and Mars are near each other low in the west in the evening sky. Venus is brilliant and you can’t miss it but Mars is only 1/200th as […]
Once again all five naked-eye planets are visible and will be for the following week, so we’ll begin with Venus in the evening sky and end with Mercury in the morning. Venus is brilliant in the west, as it will be all summer. It’s on the far side of the sun but it orbits the […]
We’ll do another rundown of the planets. Venus was behind the sun in March, and since then it’s been moving left-ward away from the sun, where it sets later each night and becomes easier to see. It now sets 90 minutes after the sun and is moderately low in the west during evening twilight. It […]
The first planet to appear tonight is Venus, poetically called the Evening Star. You can see it during twilight north of due west and fairly low. Venus is so brilliant that you can see it at sunset – and even before — if you know where to look; find it one night, and then the […]
The good news is that there is a rare “annular” or ring eclipse of the sun on June 10 — but the bad news is that you won’t see it unless you’re in a small part of Russia, Greenland, or northernmost Canada. It will be a nice partial eclipse for some eastern states and much […]
This week we’ll recap what the moon and planets are doing. Two planets are in the evening sky and two are in the morning. Brightest of all is Venus, which is becoming very slightly easier to see day by day. It’s presently on the far side of the sun where it’s only 20° to the […]
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