BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy 2017 - the year to look up at the sky!

Saturn rises about 2 hours earlier with each passing month, so it’ll rise in the southeast sky around midnight by mid-April. In early May, Saturn will rise at late evening. The final two weeks of May will probably present Saturn low in the southeast sky before your bedtime. By mid-June, Saturn will be out all night long, adorning the nighttime from sundown to sunup.

Venus and Mars are prominent in the western sky at sunset. The young crescent Moon is near brilliant Venus on Tuesday evening, and it passes by Mars on Wednesday night. Jupiter is rising around 9pm local time, so by midnight it is prominent in the southeastern sky, just 4° from bright Spica. Saturn rises still later, and is best seen just before dawn in the southeast.

As March 2017 opens, the waxing crescent moon joins up with Venus and Mars in the western sky after sunset. Mars remains a rather feeble evening object for the next few months, but March 2017 presents the grand finale of Venus, the sky’s brightest planet, as the evening “star.” Day by day, Venus sets sooner in the west after sunset.

On the opposite side of the sky, Jupiter, the second-brightest planet, is rising sooner each evening. By the month’s end, Venus will have dropped out of the evening sky totally, and Jupiter will be shining from dusk until dawn! Mercury starts to climb away from setting sun on March 7, to rendezvous with Venus in the haze of evening twilight on March 18. Last but hardly least, Saturn is rising in the southeast after midnight, and soaring highest up in the sky around daybreak.

Venus and Mars continue to shine in the western sky as night falls. It is possible to see Venus almost as soon as the sun sets, just as the sky begins to darken a little. Venus is getting lower in the sky each night, and on the 25th it will be in conjunction with the Sun.

it continues to become a larger diameter but ever-thinning crescent. Its current thin crescent shape is a beautiful sight in a small telescope or even a pair of high-powered binoculars.

Jupiter is rising around 9pm local time, and is well placed for viewing in the southeastern sky around 11pm or midnight. On the evening of the 14th, the Moon, Jupiter, and the bright star Spica will form a triangle about 3° on a side.

Saturn is prominent in the southeastern sky before dawn.

Three planets are visible in the western sky at sunset.

Venus, brightest by far, is also lowest in the sky and a challenge to see because it is separated by only 10° from the Sun. By the time the Sun sets, Venus is visible very low (less than 10° above the horizon) and just a bit north of where the Sun set. Venus is heading toward conjunction with the Sun on the 25th, so early this week is probably the last time to see it for a while. If you can spot it, the view through a small telescope or good pair of binoculars will reward you with a very large and thin crescent Venus.

Mercury is also in the west at sunset, a few degrees to the left of Venus and moving higher in the sky each night, but still close to the horizon.

Mars is higher in the western sky and is easily visible as the brightest (and reddest) "star" in that area once darkness falls.

Jupiter is heading toward opposition in a few weeks, so it rises nearly at sunset. By 11pm local time it is well placed for viewing in the southeastern sky, not far from the bright star Spica.

Closer to dawn, look for Saturn near the last quarter Moon on Monday morning (the 20th). Saturn is rising around midnight, so it's visible in the south before sunrise.

Mars is visible in the west after sunset, distincly red and below the Pleiades star cluster. Jupiter reached opposition last week, so it is now rising just before sunset. By 9 or 10pm it is well placed in the southeastern sky; by midnight or 1am it is at its highest due south. This is a great time to observe Jupiter if you have a telescope because the planet is closest to Earth and appears larger than usual. Saturn rises around 1 or 2am and is visible in the southeast before dawn. Look for Venus very low in the predawn eastern sky.

There are three comets currently in the sky, visible to observers using nothing more sophisticated than binoculars. Read more about Comets C/2015 ER61 PanSTARRS, C/2017 E4 Lovejoy, and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak over at the Cometwatch website. The views improve as the week progresses and the Moon rises later, leaving the sky darker.

Mars is shining in the west after sunset, just a few degrees below the Pleiades, which, along with the other stars of winter, are setting earlier each night. Jupiter is the king of the evening sky, rising just before sunset and still visible nearly all night. Look for it a few degrees above bright Spica. Saturn rises around 1am local time, and is well placed for viewing in the south just before dawn. Venus is bright but low in the east just before sunrise.

Tonight – May 6, 2017 – and for the next few evenings, watch for the moon and the dazzling planet Jupiter to pop out almost immediately after sunset. Then as dusk ebbs into nightfall, look for the star Spica to come out below Jupiter. On May 6, Spica is almost on line with the bright waxing gibbous moon and Jupiter.

The grand celestial procession on May 6-8, 2017 – the moon, Jupiter and Spica – will travel westward across the nighttime sky for the same reason that the sun goes westward during the day. It’s because the Earth spins from west-to-east on its rotational axis, causing the sun, moon, stars and planets to rise in the east, set in the west and to go westward across our sky each day.