SkyCaramba

Two planets are moving eastward in the morning sky. But for now, the sun's moving eastward faster. The way things look, the stars are climbing the sky each morning faster than those planets or the sun. I'll explain this effect of the difference between the sidereal and solar days.

One more time, the moon reaches as far north as it can.

Try to see Venus in the morning.

Mars rides high at dusk.

And sometimes, stars seem to change colors because of other stars next to them. You can try to make it happen in your own telescope!

Venus and Mercury are on the other side of the sun. A partial solar eclipse happens in the northern hemisphere. And some people keep count of how many lunar months have gone by since some moment.

The moon's heading toward the farthest south it will go for the next two decades. Venus and Mercury head to conjunction. And why is there an old tale about being able to stand an egg on its end only on the equinox?

Planets are disappearing from the evening sky, but Venus is a good guide for finding Mercury. There's a total lunar eclipse this week. You can usually still see some lunar features during totality. And Universal Time isn't universally understood.

Saturn's lost in the sun glow as it leaves the evening sky. Mercury and Venus are leaving soon. Last chance to see the moon as far north as it goes. Find out about next week's total lunar eclipse. And learn why we see nebulae.

Sometimes, Saturn appears ringless. We're about to cross the ring plane, from which we see--or don't see--the rings edge-on. Unfortunately, we won't get to see this phenomenon when it happens in a few weeks.

The same side of the moon is always facing us, so it seems like we should see just half of it. But we actually see more, thanks to the tidal lock not being super tight.

Some evening planets are sinking into the sunset, while others still ride high at dusk.

Why do the planets seem to go back and forth in our sky when they're all going the same way around the sun?

Mercury's about to emerge into the evening sky.

No pre-dawn planet watching for now. So get to know the current morning stars. Is Cygnus flying in the right place?

Even though we see through air, it's not as transparent as we think. It gets in the way.

Venus, Saturn, and Neptune are close on the celestial dome. They're fairly easy to see for now.

Mars moves deeper into Gemini. Jupiter resumes direct motion this week.