In the Sky This Month

Orion, one of the most conspicuous constellations of winter, is climbing into evening view. Look for Orion’s Belt, a short line of three bright stars standing almost straight up from the southeastern horizon in mid-evening.

The planets Jupiter and Venus are teaming up in the evening sky. Venus is the brilliant Evening Star. Fainter Jupiter is quite close to it for the next few nights.

Look for the Moon, Mars, and Mercury before and during dawn the next couple of days. Mars will stand close to the right of the Moon tomorrow, with Mercury farther below the Moon. The Moon will perch below Mercury on Monday morning.

Spica, a star system with an explosive future, will stand to the lower right of the Moon early tomorrow. One of the system’s two known stars is massive enough to end its life as a supernova. Spica is the brightest star of the constellation Virgo.

The star marks the tail of Cetus, the whale or sea monster, is in the southeast at nightfall, to the upper left of the only bright star in that region of the sky, Fomalhaut. Deneb Kaitos is the next-brightest star around, so it’s easy to pick out.

Venus and Jupiter, the brightest points of light in the night sky, are quite close together, low in the southwest as the Sun sets. Venus is the brighter light, with Jupiter a little to the upper left of Venus this evening.

The last-quarter Moon rises around midnight tonight and will stand high in the sky at first light tomorrow. Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, will be close to it.

Look for the Moon high in the sky at first light tomorrow. Regulus, the bright star that marks the heart of Leo, the lion, will stand to the lower left of the Moon.

Under especially clear, dark skies, the galaxy M33 is just visible to the naked eye. At three million light-years, it is one of the farthest objects visible to the eye alone. As night falls, it’s above the stars that outline the constellation Triangulum.

The constellation Triangulum is a skinny triangle wedged between four bigger constellations, including Andromeda the princess and Perseus the hero. If you have a dark sky, look for Triangulum well up in the east at nightfall. Its wedge aims to the right.