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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, January 21, 2015. Here is what’s happening in the skies of southern California:

Brilliant Venus and fainter Mercury are still paired low in the southwest during evening twilight. The planets are best observed starting at 5:40 p.m. Mercury is located to the lower right of Venus. This week, the distance between these planets grows from 1⅓ degrees to nearly 7 degrees. On the 21st, the slender crescent moon joins Mercury and Venus.

Orange Mars appears bright, star-like, and is 15 degrees to the upper left of Venus. Although Mars is almost as far away from us as it can be and appears too small to show telescopic detail, it will provide an interesting view through a telescope on the 18th. On that evening, the sun’s most distant major planet, Neptune, will pass only 13 arcminutes–less than half the moon’s diameter–north of Mars, and the two planets will fit in the same telescopic field of view. Mars will appear twice the diameter and 83 times brighter than Neptune.

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy continues to brighten as it climbs high into the evening sky. This week, Lovejoy travels through the western side of Taurus the Bull, passing within about 10 degrees the Pleiades, and gradually moves from below to the right of the star cluster. Although Lovejoy can be seen from urban conditions through binoculars, the absence of moonlight, combined with predicted clear weather, makes this the best week for trying to see the comet from darker skies. Consider taking a trip to a wilderness campground in the Mojave Desert or to the mountains to see the comet in all its glory against a truly dark sky. A comet Lovejoy finder chart appears on our special web page. Comet Lovejoy is currently featured through the public telescopes of Griffith Observatory.

Bright planet Jupiter, in Cancer the Crab, is visible nearly all night long. It rises in the east by 7:00 p.m. and is 71 degrees above the southern horizon at 1:30 a.m. It is low in the western sky at dawn. Steadily held binoculars can reveal Jupiter’s four largest moons, first seen by Galileo in 1610. A telescope is needed to see the cloud features of Jupiter, including the oval Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot faces the earth at 10:00 p.m. on the 14th and 19th.

The waning crescent moon can be seen in the early morning sky until the 19th, and it is new on the following morning.

The ringed planet Saturn, in Libra the Scales, is well placed for viewing at the start of dawn, and appears as a bright golden point. Saturn can then be found 24 degrees above the southeast horizon, and 10 degrees above the bright orange star Antares of Scorpius the Scorpion. A telescope is needed to see Saturn’s beautiful system of rings as well as its brightest moons. The moon appears to the left of Saturn on the 16th.

Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. Two public star parties are scheduled next week. On Friday, January 23, a special free public star party to view many objects in the solar system and ending with a rare “triple transit” of Jupiter’s moons shadows will be hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society on the grounds of the Observatory. On Saturday, January 24, the regular public star party, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society will be held.

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From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.