Be sure to enjoy the pre-dawn morning sky to see all of the naked-eye planets and the moon together.
At 6:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 1 look toward the southeast to find Mercury 10 degrees above the horizon. Higher up 14 degrees above the horizon is ever brilliant Venus. Still higher is Saturn, which remains not far from bright red Antares in the heart of Scorpius the Scorpion. The moon, at slightly past last quarter, is nearly due south. Just to the right (west) of the moon is red Mars. In the southwest is bright Jupiter.
Don’t concentrate all your observing efforts on the morning sky.
The evening winter sky at 9 p.m. is as good as it gets as far as bright constellations go — all easily visible in Tucson.
Directly south is Orion the Hunter, which is nearly as famous as the Big Dipper and has brighter stars. To the southeast of Orion is Canis Major the Greater Dog with Sirius the brightest star in the sky.
Above Orion is Taurus the Bull with its bright star Aldebaran, and above Taurus is Auriga the Charioteer with its bright star Capella. To the east of Taurus is Gemini the Twins with the bright stars Pollux and Castor. If your sky is really dark, you can even catch the Winter Milky Way running through Auriga and to the east of Orion and Canis Major.
