Cats and rockers and stars and planets and the moon

We are going to be busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs this week. With all the planet/planet, planet/moon, and other events we are going to be busy.

So, find your favorite dark-sky place with a good, clear view to the southwest, get your lawn chair, binoculars, or telescope and let's go.

First up tonight (Wednesday, Jan. 21) at about a half-hour after local sunset look for bright Venus with slightly dimmer Mercury just below and left. The pair will be slightly farther apart than a binocular field of view.

Venus is just coming around from being on the far side of the Sun so it will be showing us a full face while Mercury--if you have a telescope--will be showing a nice crescent shape as it has just passed its farthest eastern elongation from the Sun.

I almost forgot, there will be a very nice just-past one-day old crescent moon just to the planetary pair's right making a triangle. This will be a great time to start watching the moon for the next few days as it traverses the sky and meets more planets and some stars.

About an hour later Mercury will be gone from the sky and Venus will be very close to the horizon. That will allow us to turn our attention to two more planets who are lurking very close to each other.

About two hours after local sunset will put us in good stead with darker skies for another planetary pairing, this time with Mars and dim outer-ice giant Neptune. They will appear in the same binocular field of view. If you put Mars in the center, bluish Neptune will be near the edge at about the five o'clock position.

Since Neptune is a difficult planet to locate, it is nice to have a helper close by to assist in locating it.

The viewing gets even better on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 22, when a slightly thicker crescent moon joins the pair. Super view in binoculars.

Keep watching the moon each evening as it brackets Uranus on the evenings of Jan. 25 and 26 and moves on to later meet bright Aldebaran in Taurus, the Bull and the nearby Pleiades star cluster on the evening of January 28th

Keep in mind that Venus and Mercury are moving apart as are Mars and Neptune. The last day for a good view of Mars and Neptune in the same field of view is Saturday, Jan. 24.

However, just because Mercury has departed does not mean Venus will be doing nothing. It rises higher each evening until Wednesday, Jan. 28, when it will be in the same field of view with Neptune. The pair will pass close to each other on the evening of Feb. 1, and be together until Feb. 4.

Also in February there will be a meeting of Venus and Mars and later Venus and Uranus in early March.

SKYWATCH: New moon, Tuesday, Jan. 20. Since the moon was new yesterday, now is a great time to begin our moon observation for the rest of the month. Follow it as it passes several planets in the next few days and see if you can recognize what stars and constellations it passes as the days continue.

NEXT WEEK: More exciting, and busy January and more astronomical blathering.