THE PLANETS

The evenings in August display six of the seven planets with the exception being Uranus, which doesn’t rise until midnight (mid-month). Mars continues its slow decent in the western twilight glow and Mercury returns to the evening, making a close approach to Mars (0.2° apart) as it passes on the 19th. Mercury is the brighter, but neither can hold a candle to Venus, above. The eastern evening sky belongs to Saturn and Jupiter, with both visible all night, and Neptune arrives early evening.