Jupiter and Saturn will start rising before midnight this month, while Mars and Venus start to spend more time in evening twilight.

Mercury is the planet to watch this month, as it wanes and treks away from the Sun, passing Venus and the Moon.

While Jupiter draws farther away from Saturn, the Moon will pass the two April 6-7. Speedy Mercury will also pass by bright Venus on April 25.

This month, the old crescent Moon passes south of the pre-dawn planets from March 9-11, and Mars moseys between the Hyades and Pleiades.

While some planets spend time basking in sunlight, look for Mars’ visit with the Moon February 18.

This month, Uranus completes its retrograde loop and resumes its eastward motion in the skies, and Mercury returns to view. Here’s more on the planetary events this month.

December’s best show comes from Saturn and Jupiter, who spend more than two weeks less than a degree apart and meet December 21 in a “Great Conjunction.”

November offers excellent opportunities to view Moon-planet pairings, as well as Mercury in the eastern pre-dawn sky.

The Red Planet steals the show this month, passing closer to the Earth than it will for the next 15 years and providing the best opposition of the 2020s.