Starwatch: Saturn and Mars are skulking low in the sky

Extremely close planetary pairing rises above horizon at dawn

One of the perennial fascinations with the night sky is that the planets are always changing their configuration against the backdrop of fixed constellations. Occasionally, however, this proves frustrating.

Such is the case at the moment in the higher northern latitudes, where the naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) are all skulking low in the sky. This makes observing them difficult but not impossible and so we will begin and end this month with two close planetary conjunctions that are worth the effort.