A brilliant full moon rises in southeastern sky tomorrow night, about the same time as sunset, or a little later. We call this the Summer Moon. In other places the moon is called Strawberry Moon. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius, one of the southern most constellations in the zodiac. The moon will never get much altitude, but will stay close to the southern horizon through the night.

The red planet Mars moves through the Beehive Cluster in the nights ahead. If you can find Mars, with a pair of binoculars you can also find the Beehive Cluster.

The bright planet Venus has dominated our western evening sky this month and there is nothing in the sky to match - until next week.

Venus appears overhead in the west for quite a while after sunset. The planet is brilliant and closer to us than the Sun.

On Monday night the moon is joined by a thin crescent moon, to the viewer's right of the moon. The moon is fairly low so not everyone will see it.

Look again on Tuesday night and the moon will appear more southerly and higher above Venus. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Gemini.

There are few events at night that get one's emotions uplifted and feelings of wonder than the sight of Northern Lights.

The two evening planets, Mars and Venus are in the western sky. The two are appearing closer and closer. Venus is the brighter of the two and commands the most attention. Venus looks like an airplane with running lights on, ready for landing.

The red planet Mars is dull and distant. Mars has lost so much of its brilliance from a few months ago it now looks like a regular star. You've got to work a little bit to pick it out amid the stars in the constellation Gemini. Venus and Mars will come close together in June, so we've all got time to watch their movement.

A bright moon in our southern sky will dominate the week ahead. The moon is gibbous, a term that describes the moon days before it is full. It lies inbetween that time when the moon is first quarter and full. Or, at the other end of the moon's orbit, it describes that time between the full moon and the last quarter moon. It is also a waxing moon, which describes the moon when it is somewhere between New Moon and Full Moon.

A waning moon is when it is somewhere between Full Moon and New Moon.

The Lyrid meteor shower will take place in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The shower will take place through Saturday night into Sunday morning, but the best time, the time of the radiant, will be after 2 a.m. and until 4:30 a.m. Observers can expect to see a couple of meteors an hour into the evening. This is not a big shower but it is dependable as a small shower.

The nights ahead are moonless, making deep sky stargazing easy and full of wonder. So much has changed in the last month.

The two closest planets to the sun appear in our western sky in the evenings ahead. Venus is the easiest to spot, the brightest of all celestial objects in our night sky. Mercury is not far below, but nowhere as near as bright. Mercury reaches greatest elongation from the sun on Tuesday night. That means the planet is as far away from the sun as will get this spring. This is an opportune time to hunt for the wandering planet.

There is a treat for those with a good unencumbered view of the western sky after sunset. The brightest planet in our sky, Venus is hanging fairly high in the west. The planet is well poised for seeing by those who even have a limited view. Venus resides now in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, a constellation we normally associate with late autumn and winter.