Today:
As 2025 opens, we’ll say goodbye to one trio, and welcome to another. Low and due west this evening at 6:15 shines Altair, the lowest point of the Summer Triangle, setting over the next four hours. In the northeast, the Twins of Gemini climb higher, joined by Mars, which will climb closer to the Twins through the month.
Friday:
The failing twilight offers a splendid backdrop for the waxing Crescent Moon drawing closer to the dazzling Venus in the southwest. To the upper left of Venus, Saturn appears to peek in on the arrangement. Watch Saturn slip closer to Venus, until they meet from the 15th through the 19th.
Saturday:
Today the Earth is at perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, measuring some 147,103,686 km, or 91,405,993 miles. That “slightly” nearer Sun reflects off a waxing Crescent Moon, which will emerge almost on quarter of the way up the southern sky by 5 PM, with Saturn to its lower right, and the much brighter Venus farther to the lower right.