BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy 2018 - Keep an eye on the sky

This week the Moon goes from just shy of first quarter phase on Monday to waxing gibbous on Sunday, so you'll see the Moon prominent in the early evening sky all week, moving eastward (toward the left) and growing increasingly illuminated night to night. Saturn and Mars are the easiest planets to see this week. Saturn is in the south-southwestern sky after sunset, and Mars is in the south at the same time. The Moon will pass above Mars on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

This week the Moon is nearly full (officially full on Wednesday) and by week's end it is a waning gibbous, rising a few hours after sunset and visible until past sunrise. In the early evening sky, try to spot Jupiter low in the west-southwest immediately after sunset. Saturn is easier to spot about 45-minutes after sunset, a bright yellow "star" north of the Sagittarius teapot asterism, low in the southwest. As night falls, Mars is prominent in the southern sky.

Venus is the brightest planet, beaming mightily the east before sunrise. As December 2018 begins, Venus is shining at greatest brilliancy, its brightest for this morning apparition. Although Venus will remain a fixture of the morning sky until mid-August 2019, it’ll grow dimmer, by a bit, after early December. Even so, as always, Venus will rank as the 3rd-brightest celestial body, after the sun and moon!

The waning crescent moon will join Venus in the morning sky for several days, centered on or near December 3. If you’re up before dawn, you can also see the stars Arcturus and Spica accompanying the moon and the queen planet, as depicted on the sky chart above.

At mid-northern latitudes, Venus rises about 3 1/2 hours before sunrise throughout December

The Moon is waning this week, heading toward new Moon on Friday. This means that at the beginning of the week it will be visible just before dawn in the southeastern sky as a slim crescent, on Sunday night as a slim crescent in the southwest just after sunset. What it also means is that the Moon is "out of the way" for observing the stars and other faint objects in the sky, a prime time for deep sky observers. Just after sunset, look for Saturn very low in the southwest. The slim crescent Moon will be 1° north of it on Sunday evening. Also at nightfall, look for Mars shining brightly in the south. Just before sunrise in the southeastern sky, Venus is remarkably bright - about as bright as it ever gets. Mercury is also becoming visible by week's end, about 25° to the lower left of Venus.