Lunar occultation of Venus

Now that planet Saturn is effectively lost in the dusk twilight for UK-based observers, you may be wondering what has happened to the other four bright naked-eye planets. Far from disappearing, they have just transferred to the morning sky. From 8—11 October, the waning crescent Moon acts as a guide to Venus, Mars, Jupiter then Mercury in the eastern dawn sky.

A pretty rare observational event visible across the whole of the UK, a planet occulted by the Moon, occurs on the early-evening of 5 December when the Moon moves over Uranus.

Observers with a clear western horizon from the middle to the third week of February can enjoy the closing gap between planets Mars and Venus in the early evening sky.