StarDate

You can forget about sending a welcome basket to any neighbors on the planets orbiting Barnard’s Star, the second-closest star system to Earth. Conditions on all four of its planets are likely to be hostile to life.

Barnard’s Star is just six light-years away – only the triple-star system Alpha Centauri is closer. The star is much smaller and lighter than the Sun. And ...

The planet Venus is climbing higher into the morning sky day by day. It’ll reign as the “morning star” until summer, when it passes behind the Sun. It’ll return to view as the evening star in the fall.

Just about every major culture figured out that the morning star and evening star are really a single object. The people of Sumeria probably knew it as far back as 5,000...

Two planetary siblings are headed for a family reunion. They’re moving toward one another, and will be at their closest in a little more than a week. And they’re both bright, so you can follow their progress day by day.

Jupiter and Mars climb into good view in the east by about 1:30 or 2. They’re high in the sky at dawn. Jupiter is the brightest object in the night sky...

Early risers are in for a treat tomorrow – a tight triangle formed by the Moon, the planet Venus, and the star Spica. It’s in the east-southeast as dawn twilight paints the sky. But the group is quite low, so there’s not much time to look for it. And you’ll need a clear eastern horizon.

The Moon is about as close to the Sun as it can get and still be visible. The Sun w...

Two crescents hang out in the twilight the next couple of mornings: the Moon and the planet Venus. They’re quite low in the east at dawn. Venus is the “morning star.” It’s below the Moon tomorrow, but will be closer above the Moon on Saturday.

Venus and the Moon appear as crescents for the same reason – both of them are passing between Earth and the Sun. That means the...