Sunrise Sunset

Fri., May 1 5:38 7:39

Sat., May 2 5:37 7:40

Sun., May 3 5:36 7:41

Mon., May 4 5:34 7:42

Tues., May 5 5:33 7:43

Wed., May 6 5:32 7:44

Thurs., May 7 5:31 7:45

Fri., May 8 5:30 7:46

The hardest planet to see could be easy to spot tonight and tomorrow night. Mercury appears low in the southwestern sky after sunset, in the familiar star cluster Pleiades.

If you’ve got binoculars try looking to the west, a half hour after sunset. The brightest “star” setting is probably Mercury, which was at its greatest distance from the sun on April 26.

The show is short. In the evenings ahead Mercury moves quickly and will drop back amid the glare of the setting sun, to appear in the morning sky by the end of May.

Planet Spotting

The ringed planet Saturn is high in the southern sky after sunset. Saturn is in the constellation Leo and remains the easiest planet to spot at night. The largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter, doesn’t make an appearance in the east until about 3 a.m. in the constellation Capricornus.

Venus is low in the eastern sky before sunrise, pulling ahead of the earth in its fast-track trip around the sun. — M.A.L.