Finding the false dawn

The moon makes it to the evening sky.Mars is at minimum illumination.Venus and Mercury are up in the morning, almost together, and turning around.Can you see Jupiter after sunrise?

The moon passes by Mars, Jupiter, and Regulus.The moon also passes Venus and Spica.Uranus is by an asterism called Davis's Dog. Does it look like a dog to you?

The moon passes in front of the Pleiades.Mercury's harder to see in the evening.Venus, known as the evening star, spends a lot of time in the morning sky too.

Mercury is about to go retrograde.Venus heads for conjunction with the sun.Mars pursues Jupiter on the way to the lion.In the right conditions, reflections off of cosmic dust could fool you into thinking dawn has begun.

Venus is leaving the evening sky.Mercury's at greatest elongation.Saturn stays up all night.Mars crosses the crab.What we learn from transits of Venus.

Venus and Mercury pair up in the evening.The moon passes by Mars and Jupiter.The Draconid meteor shower peaks.Several objects are at opposition or close to it. And they're in Cetus and Pisces.

Mars at equinox.The moon hides the Pleiades.Mercury farthest from the sun.Venus goes retrograde.And there's an upcoming occultation of Jupiter. The moon will pass in front of the big planet. But you can also see Jupiter's four brightest moons get hidden too.

Neptune at opposition.Mercury passes Spica.Another daytime meteor shower. You may see some meteors early in the morning. But these meteors are mostly entering the atmosphere by day. Maybe you can listen for them on the radio.

The moon passes by Venus.Mercury makes headway into the evening.Mars is closest to Pollux.Southern lunistice and lunar apogee.Not everywhere gets 12 hours of sunlight on the equinox. Some places don't get exactly 12 hours at all--ever.

The moon at apogee and heading south.Uranus goes retrograde.Mercury moves toward Venus.What's in a name? Maybe a few thousand years of human oral history. It doesn't seem so now, but Milky Way and galaxy go back to the same origin when people described what they saw in the sky.