Today:
Very early tomorrow morning, one of the best conjunctions of a planet and the Moon takes place, featuring the dazzling Venus just barely to the right of the thinning Crescent Moon. They rise just after 2:30 AM EST, due east, then climb delightfully higher into the east-southeast, one third of the way up as the twilight brightens after 5:45 AM.

Thursday:
The eastern skies have gone to the dogs! Procyon, the star marking the Little Dog, is one of Orion’s hunting dogs, and rises at 9:50 PM. But the Great Dog comes into view a bit more than a half-hour later, as the star Sirius – the “Dog star” and the brightest star in the night skies – rises at 10:20 PM EST.

Friday:
Although not as eye-catching as the Moon’s encounter with Venus on Thursday morning, early risers still enjoy a fine meeting of a thin Crescent Moon, to the left of the bright star Spica, the only bright star in the constellation Virgo, the Virgin. They start low in the east-southeast near 5:45 AM, fading after 6 o’clock in the brightening twilight.