THE weather as been dreadful recently, night after night of cloud with no opportunities for stargazing, writes STUART ATKINSON. We've missed a lovely line-up of planets in the east before dawn - so cross your fingers for clearer skies this coming weekend because we have an opportunity to see another beautiful celestial gathering in the sky after sunset.

If you look to the west around half past six on any clear evening at the moment you'll see Venus and Mercury, the two planets closest to the Sun, hanging above the horizon in that direction looking like stars. Venus is by far the brighter of the two, while Mercury is much fainter and shining to the upper right of Venus, very close to it.

On Sunday evening (March 18) the two planets will be joined by a very thin crescent Moon, as slender as a fingernail clipping. It will be so thin a crescent it will be very challenging to see with the naked eye, so you might need binoculars to spot it in the twilight. Look to the lower left of Venus, very close to it. On the following evening (March 19) the Moon will be higher and a thicker crescent, easily visible to the naked eye to the upper left of the pair of planets. The next evening (March 20) the Moon will be a lot further away from the planetary pair, but together the three worlds will make a stunning sight in the deepening twilight.