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.

The Leonid meteor shower peak is coming. Actually, we could have multiple peaks as Earth passes through three old trails.

A southerly bird on the celestial dome is a little hard for northern hemisphere observers to see, but you can try.

There's a total lunar eclipse this week.

Start looking for Leonids. Earth is expected to pass through a few dense streams from hundreds of years ago.

The designers of a monument to veterans in Arizona used astronomy to make something special happen at 11:11am on November 11.

Mars is turning around.

Get ready for next week's total lunar eclipse.

It's been 450 years since a supernova shone new light--literally and figuratively--on the true nature of stars.