Look toward the western horizon around 7:30 p.m. as the twilight darkens.
Ever fleeting Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, will be 13 degrees above the horizon. It is getting higher and will reach its greatest eastern elongation (distance) from the sun next Thursday.
After you find Mercury Thursday, look just to its right (north). One degree away is the Pleiades the Seven Sisters. Mercury and the Pleiades will be a very fine sight in binoculars.
Twenty-two degrees above Mercury is ever-brilliant Venus, the current “evening star.” Evening star is a loosely defined term meaning any bright “star” visible in the western sky after sunset. It usually applies to Venus, which is far brighter than the other planets and stars. Sometimes Jupiter becomes our evening star when it is in the western sky after sunset and Venus is not around.
People are also reading…
To the right (north) of Venus 20 degrees is Capella, the brightest star in Auriga the Charioteer and the sixth brightest star in the sky. Capella will be soon out of our evening sky for a while.