The gibbous moon passes three visible planets in the early morning sky next week. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the gibbous moon appears underneath the brillant planet Jupiter. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus.

On Wednesday morning the moon has edged eastward and appears under the yellow planet Saturn. Saturn is pretty close to Jupiter. The two planets get closer as we get into summer.

On Thursday morning the moon appears farther east, this time just west of the red planet Mars. While Mars is not as bright as either Saturn of Jupiter, it is clearly distinguished by having a red color.

The two closest planets to the Sun are setting in our western sky. Take a look for the bright planet Venus appearing above the western horizon after sunset. Some distance below it is another planet, the planet Mercury. The two come close together by the end of the month.