The brightest star in Canis Minor (the little dog) has some things in common with the brightest star in Canis Major (the big dog).

This week is the anniversary of Clyde Tombaugh taking the pictures that led to the discovery of Pluto.

Venus climbs Capricornus for a close call with Saturn. Jupiter's at perihelion. Mars moves eastward again. The moon occults Zubenelgenubi and has its closest perigee in five years. Mercury moves to the morning. Pluto's in conjunction with the sun.

Venus climbs Capricornus toward Saturn, Jupiter reigns above them, Mars turns around, Mercury is coming out of inferior conjunction and moving to the morning.

Two planets are at perihelion this week. Some people have a hard time believing it about one of them.

Mercury says so long to the evening sky.

Venus climbs toward Saturn.

And the moon occults Mars again.

Mars at equinox. Martian clouds. The asteroid belt isn't nearly as dense as shown on TV. Planets don't twinkle--usually.

Mercury's at greatest elongation and near Venus. Jupiter and Saturn are easy evening sights. So is Mars. Earth's at solstice.

These are the longest days of the year as measured by high noon to high noon.

Mercury and Venus trek across the northern part of Sagittarius as they barely make it into the evening sky.

The moon goes farther north and south each month as it approaches a so-called major lunar standstill.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks this week. The first astronomers who saw this shower described it as not very active, but things have changed.

Venus and Mercury step into the evening sky. The moon hides Mars for observers in North America and Europe.

The legend of the constellation Auriga tells of a man who succeeded in winning a royal bride after 18 suitors failed. They had to race the princess's father. If they lost, they lost big.

The DART mission to nudge an asteroid into a different orbit worked. Why bother? The day may come when our lives depend on it.

Have you ever wanted to figure out where the planets would appear? I won't go into the details you'll need to do the math. But I'll tell you something to help you decide if you want to get started.