• The three brightest heavenly bodies of nighttime - the moon, Venus and Jupiter, respectively - can be found in the western sky after sunset now. Jupiter is easy to see because this king of planets stays out until about an hour after dark, but the moon and Venus are harder to catch because they follow the sun below the horizon before it gets truly dark outside.

But - on May 10, 2013 - you'll have a chance to catch the moon and Venus near each other, low in the western twilight sky. Whether you see them will depend on the clarity of your sky - and the lack of trees or tall buildings in the way!
• Setting time for the sun, moon and planets in your sky
• Although we in North America missed the recent eclipse of the sun on May 9-10, we do have the chance to catch the moon fresh from the eclipse. It's the youngest of young moons you'll see, coupling up with the planet Venus after sunset on Friday, May 10. To see Venus and the moon, you might want to bring along your binoculars. These two worlds will be low in the evening dusk, nearly buried in bright twilight.
• By the way, the new moon fell on May 9 in North America, at 8:28 p.m. EDT, 7:28 p.m. CDT, 6:28 p.m. MDT and 5:28 p.m. PDT. So - at sundown May 10 - the moon as seen from North America is about one day old. As always, the farther west you are, the greater your chance of seeing this very young moon.
• What's the youngest moon you can see?
• Our featured chart at the top of this post shows the sky scene as seen from mid-northern North American latitudes for about 35 to 45 minutes after sunset. Keep in mind that it won't be much longer after that time that the moon and Venus will sink below the horizon. The moon and Venus won't be nearly as easy to see in the real sky as on the above sky chart. But we have faith some of you will spot them, and maybe even capture photos. If you do, post on EarthSky's Facebook page, or at our photo community on Google+.

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