Look Up! Mercury, Venus and Mars will be visible alongside the moon this week
(KSWB) — Mercury, Venus and Mars will all appear alongside our closest neighbor in the night sky this week.
Ahead of the new moon, skygazers are in for a treat. Those who looked up before sunrise early Monday morning may have seen Venus alongside the crescent moon.
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On Tuesday, all three of Earth’s closest neighbors will be visible together in the night sky just before sunrise. With just 5% of the moon’s light illumined as the new moon is Thursday, the crescent moon will appear to have company as Venus, Mercury and Mars will be shining alongside the moon.
Venus will be the brightest and easiest to see. You may need to break out some binoculars to see Mars, which will be just above the horizon in the early morning sky. Mercury should be bright enough to see in areas with less light pollution, just look southeast.
When the sun will set in San Diego now the shortest day of the year has passed
The moon will appear very close to the bright red star Antares, according to NASA, appearing to pass in front of the star for those of us in the western United States.
The show starts about 2.5 hours before sunrise with Venus. Then Mercury and the moon will rise an hour later, followed by Mars a half-hour before sunrise.
NASA streams first-ever high-definition video from deep space
This weekend, just after the new moon, the moon will be visible with Saturn. Then, the moon and Jupiter grace the sky again later next week.
The first full moon of 2024, the full wolf moon, will rise on Jan. 25.
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