The planets Venus and Mars, once the brightest planets in our night sky, have disappeared from view. They are still out there, but they are appearing so close to the Sun as to be hidden from us.

Looking ahead, both will reappear in our sky but at opposite ends of the night.

Venus is speeding around the Sun and will soon appear low in our western sky. The earliest you may be able to see Venus will be in May and it will be an evening planet. Venus spent last winter as our morning planet.

Mars is different, moving at an apparently slower pace than Venus or us. Mars will show up as a morning planet, low in the eastern sky, in June.

Jupiter and Saturn

The two biggest planets in our solar system are easy to spot in the evening sky. Jupiter appears high in the western sky. Other than the moon, Jupiter is the brightest celestial object in the sky. It resides in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. It is fairly close to the bright orange star Aldebaran, the principal star in that constellation.

Saturn is also easy to spot, but not as bright as Jupiter. Saturn resides in the zodiacal constellation Libra and rises in the southeastern sky around 9 p.m. Saturn has a slightly yellowish tint.

Don’t be confused by the brilliant star Spica, which is blueish white, resides in the constellation Virgo and is a good deal higher in the east.

Saturn is getting closer to us. The planet will reach opposition, its closest point, on April 28.