IF YOU manage to catch a break in the clouds on any evening this coming week you absolutely must try to see Venus, writes STUART ATKINSON. It is quite low after sunset now, well past its best, and sets around 8pm. Soon it will be gone from our evening sky altogether, but for this next week it will remain a strikingly bright blue white 'star' low in the west during twilight, and if you have a pair of binoculars please, please take a look at Venus through them; they might be powerful enough to show the beautiful Evening Star as a tiny, slender crescent.

As Venus is setting in the west, Jupiter is rising in the east, looking like a bright blue-white star. Jupiter is currently close to Spica, one of the brightest stars in the sky, the two making a very striking and attractive pair throughout the night.

Saturn follows Jupiter into the sky but not until the early hours of the morning. By 3am it is above the eastern horizon, shining with more of a warm, yellow hue than brittle blue-white Jupiter. Look for the Moon shining very close to Saturn in the hours before dawn on March 20.

Finally, one more thing to look out for at the moment - rings around the Moon. On the hazy, misty nights of late March and into April the Moon is often surrounded by a beautiful glowing ring, or halo. Keep an eye open for those on any clear night too.

Stuart Atkinson

Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal