For night owls, or very early risers tomorrow morning, the southeastern skies host a wonderful view of the waning Gibbous Moon, rising just minutes before midnight, joined by the red star Antares, the “heart” of the Scorpion. They remain low in the southeast, cresting due south at 4 in the morning, and slip into the southwest as twilight brightens after 5:15 AM.
Monday:
Venus spends the next few evenings in the company of the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, the compact cluster of stars one quarter of the way up in the west as darkness envelops the skies. This patch of stars will be above Venus tonight by 8:30 PM or so, and with each passing night, Venus climbs and little higher, and the Sisters drift a little lower.
Tuesday:
Mercury shines at its best for a few more nights, reaching a position called its Greatest Eastern Elongation, or its greatest separation from the Sun. By 8 o’clock, Venus gleams remarkably bright, one third of the way up in the west. Mercury sits about two hand-widths above the west-northwest horizon, edging lower but still in view through 8:30 PM.