The red planet Mars, missing for much of the last months of 2019, is now easily visible, far enough away from the brilliant sun. The red planet is easy to find on Monday morning when the thin crescent moon appears nearby.

If you are outside around 5:30 a.m. on Monday you’ll see the planet low in the southeastern sky in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. The moon is just above Mars. Look more carefully and you’ll see the red star Antares a short distance underneath Mars and closer to the horizon.

Mars will be an important planet later this year as it gets closer. While Mars spends much of the start of the year in the morning sky, by summer Mars rises in the east before midnight.

Mars is closest to the Earth, in opposition, in October, only 38 million miles away. For comparison, the sun is 93 million miles away.

After sunset, Venus hangs low in the southwestern sky. The bright planet Jupiter appears in the morning sky, visible just before sunrise.