Spend an evening with Venus

May 2010: May provides six well-placed planets for your viewing pleasure.

By Alister Ling

By Martin Ratcliffe

Published: March 29, 2010

Seeing Venus near a crescent Moon always brings a thrill. The two met each other in December 2008 (seen here) and will do so again this month.

Photo by Robert Slobins

The relatively short nights of late spring don't hinder planet observers this year. May provides six well-placed planets for your viewing pleasure. Venus, Mars, and Saturn populate the evening sky, and the latter two remain on display until well past midnight. Three other planets — Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune — gather in the predawn sky.

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