The evening sky is starting to get lonely for planets. The bright planet Jupiter is now so low in the southwestern sky after sunset as to be almost unobservable. Jupiter follows right behind the setting sun. We can only see it for a little more than an hour.

There are now two planets still within view in the evening sky. Mars is the easiest and is stunningly red in the southern sky. Mars has been with us all the way back to spring. Better still, it is climbing along the zodiac, moving through the constellations and is now higher in the southern sky than it was months ago. Mars is fainter than it was when it was in opposition earlier this year, but it is easier to find. There is no brighter star in the southern sky, so you can’t miss this one.

Saturn has been faithful to the constellation where it resides in Sagittarius. Saturn is low in the southern sky in the early evening and it is the brightest “star” in the southern sky. Saturn sets in the west not long after Jupiter.