Mornings offer plenty of planet watching this month. In the wee hours of Monday morning take a look towards the eastern skyline. Well before sunrise you'll see the brilliant planet Venus and not too far away a thin crescent moon. Both are in the zodiacal constellation Cancer, a constellation we associate with more often with late winter.

If you could look more closely at Venus with a telescope, you'd see the planet has a crescent like appear too. Venus will get higher in the mornings ahead. More and more of us will get a better view of the planet as it gets farther from the glare of the rising sun.

On the morning of Friday, September 22, the distant planet Mercury will be between the Venus and the rising sun. Mercury will be in the light of dawn but as far as it gets this year from the sun.

Look to the right at the same hour and you'll see the bright planet Jupiter high in the southern sky. Jupiter is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus and also a short distance from the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters a large and familiar star cluster.