Planets | Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris: 08/13/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

August 13, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for International Left-handers Day, Wednesday, August 13th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 8:51, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:44. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:47 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars is getting so low in the western sky in evening twilight that I’ve given up on trying to spot it. This is the curse of trying to view evening planets, which are near the direction of the Sun in late summer and early fall, for us at higher latitudes. Mars won’t pass behind the Sun and enter the morning sky until January 9th. Saturn now rises at 10:23 PM in the east. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, less than 4° from being edge on. By 5:30 AM Saturn will be high in the south, when our winter pal Orion will be rising. Venus and Jupiter will appear very close. Venus is by far the brighter of the two.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Mars and Spica this evening in the western sky an hour after sunset here (9:51 PM), August 13, 2025. With the smoke from the Canadian wild files, I doubt any stars or planets could be seen near the horizon. Created using Stellarium.

*Saturn, Jupiter and Venus with some bright winter stars at 5:45 AM tomorrow morning, August 14th, 2025, looking from east-northeast to southwest. Created using Stellarium.*

The Moon tomorrow morning, August 14, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Feature labels are centered. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification — Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the morning of the August 14th 2025, Saturn will be 19.0″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here., and extend to 44.2″. They are tilted 3.1° from being edge on. *Jupiter will be 33.3″ in diameter*. *Venus’ apparent diameter will be 13.3″, and be 79.4% illuminated.* The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 13, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 14th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.

A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow — This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, August 13th and 14th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 08/11/2025 – The best times to see the Perseid meteor shower

August 11, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, August 11th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 8:54, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:42. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 10:06 this evening.

Tonight’s most interesting astronomical events will occur tomorrow morning. The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak tomorrow afternoon, so tomorrow morning and Wednesday morning will be about the best times to see the meteors, except that the bright Moon is going to interfere. So only the brightest meteors will be visible. Bonus: in morning twilight tomorrow the planets Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction, meaning they’ll be at their closest appearance to each other by a little bit less than twice the width of the Moon apart. Early risers may have been noticing that Venus and Jupiter will have been slowly approaching each other, with Jupiter below and left of Venus. Tomorrow morning, Jupiter will pass just above Venus.

Addendum

My best Perseid photo. From the 1970's. — My best Perseid photo. From the 1970’s. The other streaks are stars due to the earth’s rotation during the time exposure of the stationary camera. The camera was aimed near the radiant, where the meteoric streaks are shorter because they are coming almost right at us. This one would be visible on the brightest moonlit night.

Categories: Conjunction, Ephemeris Program, Meteor Shower, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Perseid meteor shower, Venus

Ephemeris: 08/06/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

August 6, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 6th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:01, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:36. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 4:13 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, May be seen very low in the western sky at 10 PM. Mars is moving toward Spica, a bit higher in the west-southwest. Mars will pass Spica on September 12th. By then they will be too low in the sky to be seen in twilight. Mars will leave the evening sky on January 9th. Saturn now rises at 10:50 PM in the east. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, less than 4° from being edge on. By 5:30 AM Saturn will be high in the south, when our winter pal Orion will be rising. Venus and Jupiter will appear very close. Venus is by far the brighter of the two. Their paths will cross on the morning of the 12th, where they will appear less than 2 moon-widths apart.

Addendum

*Mars and Spica this evening in the western sky near 10 PM, August 6, 2025. Created using Stellarium.*

The Moon tonight, August 6, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Feature labels are centered. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

*Saturn, Venus and Jupiter with some bright winter stars at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning, August 7th, 2025, looking from east-northeast to south. Created using Stellarium.*

Telescopic Saturn, Venus and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of August 6, 2025, Mars will be 4.4″ in diameter, too small to be shown here. My lower size limit is 10″. On the morning of the 7th, Saturn will be 18.8″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here., and extend to 43.8″. They are tilted 3.3° from being edge on. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 13.8″, and be 77.2% illuminated. Jupiter will be 32.9″ in diameter, though its satellites may not be visible in the morning twilight. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 6, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 7th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.

A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, August 6th and 7th, 2025. — This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, August 6th and 7th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 07/30/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the Moon and the naked-eye planets

July 30, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 9:10, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:28. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:40 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, will be seen low in the western sky at 10:15 PM. Mars is moving toward Spica, higher in the west-southwest, which will be above the Moon tonight. Mars will pass Spica on September 12th. By then they will be too low in the sky to be seen in twilight. Saturn now rises at 11:15 PM in the east. When I had my first telescope, eagerly waiting for Saturn to rise, I had to wait more than a half hour to get a sharp image of it. By 5:30 AM Saturn will be high in the south, when our winter pal Orion will be rising. Venus will rise at 3:29 AM in the east-northeast and will be higher in the east by 5:30. Jupiter will be below and left of Venus.

Addendum

*Mars, Spica and the Moon this evening in the western sky near 10 PM tonight, July 30, 2025. Created using Stellarium.*

The Moon tonight, July 30, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Feature labels are centered, except for Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catharina, and Proclus whose labels are to the left to avoid clutter. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

*Venus, Saturn and Jupiter with some bright winter stars at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning, July 31st, 2025, looking from east-northeast to south Created using Stellarium.*

Telescopic Saturn, Venus and Jupiter as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. — Telescopic Saturn, Venus and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of July 23, 2025, Mars will be 4.5″ in diameter, too small to be shown here. My lower size limit is 10″. On the morning of the 31st, Saturn will be 18.6″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here., and extend to 43.4″. They are tilted 3.3° from being edge on. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 14.4″, and be 74.9% illuminated. Jupiter will be 32.6″ in diameter, though its satellites may not be visible in the morning twilight. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on July 30, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 31st. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.

A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, July 30th and 31st, 2025 — This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, July 30th and 31st, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 07/23/2025 – Our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

July 23, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 9:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:20. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 5:43 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, will be seen low in the western sky at 10:30 PM. Mars is moving toward Spica, higher in the southwest. It will pass above Spica on September 12th. Mars moves much faster against the background stars than the more distant Jupiter and Saturn. Speaking of Saturn, it now rises just before midnight at just about due east, and by 5:30 AM will be high in the south. Venus will rise at 3:25 AM in the east-northeast and will be higher in that general direction by 5:30. Jupiter will be below and left of it then. That they will appear among the winter stars will become more apparent in the next few weeks.

Addendum

Mars and Spica this evening in the western sky near 10:30 PM tonight. — *Mars and Spica this evening in the western sky near 10:30 PM tonight, July 23, 2025. Created using Stellarium.*

Venus, Saturn and Jupiter with some bright stars at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning. — *Venus, Saturn and Jupiter with some bright stars at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning, July 24th, 2025, looking from northeast to south-south Created using Stellarium.*

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 07/16/2025 – Our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

July 16, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 9:24, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:13. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:20 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, will be seen to the upper left of the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion. Both are seen low in the western sky by 10:30 PM at least. Mars is moving away from Regulus, close to the horizon in the west-northwest toward Spica, higher in the southwest. Mars moves much faster against the background stars than the more distant Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter is in the morning sky now very low in the east-northeast by 5:15 AM. Venus will rise at 3:23 AM in the east-northeast, and by 5 AM will be seen in the east, as the Morning Star. By then Saturn will be in the south-southeast, and below the last quarter Moon tomorrow morning.

Addendum

Mars, Regulus and Spica this evening in the western sky near 10:30 PM tonight. — *Mars, Regulus and Spica this evening in the western sky near 10:30 PM tonight, July 16, 2025. Created using Stellarium.*

Venus, Saturn and Jupiter with some bright stars at 5:15 AM tomorrow morning. — *Venus, Saturn and Jupiter with some bright stars at 5:15 AM tomorrow morning, July 17th, 2025, looking from northeast to south-southeast. Created using Stellarium.*

*The Moon tomorrow morning, July 17, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.*

Telescopic Saturn, Venus and Jupiter. — Telescopic Saturn, Venus and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of July 16, 2025, Mars will be 4.6″ in diameter, too small to be shown here. My lower size limit is 10″. On the morning of the 17th, Saturn will be 18.2″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here., and extend to 42.4″. They are tilted 3.6° from being edge on. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 15.8″, and be 70.1% illuminated. Jupiter will be 32.2″ in diameter, though its satellites may not be visible in the morning twilight. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing, Uncategorized Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 07/09/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the naked-eye planets

July 9, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:07. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 5:21 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, will be seen to the upper left of the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion. Both are seen in the western sky by 10:30 PM at least. Mars is moving away from Regulus toward Spica, then in the southwest. Mars moves much faster against the background stars than the more distant Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter is in the morning sky now but is still probably too close to the direction of the Sun to be seen. Give it a week or two. Venus will rise at 3:25 AM in the east northeast, and by 5 AM will be seen in the east, as the Morning Star. By then Saturn will be in the south-southeast, having risen just before 1 AM.

Addendum

*Mars, Regulus and Spica this evening in the western sky near 10:30 PM tonight, July 9, 2025. Created using Stellarium.*

*The Moon tonight, July 9, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.*

*Venus and Saturn with some bright stars at 5 AM tomorrow morning, July 10th, 2025, looking from east-northeast to south. Created using Stellarium.*

Telescopic Saturn and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of July 9, 2025, Mars will be 4.7″ in diameter, too small to be shown here. My lower size limit is 10″. On the morning of the 10th, Saturn will be 18.0″ in diameter, but its rings, even being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here., and extend to 42.0″. They are tilted 3.7° from being edge on. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 16.6″, and be 67.4% illuminated. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.

This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, July 9th and 10th, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 07/02/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the naked-eye planets

July 2, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:02. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:18 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, will be seen to the upper left of the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion. Both are seen in the western sky by 10:30 PM at least. At that time Mercury might be spotted low on the west-northwestern Lake Michigan horizon. This is not a favorable appearance of Mercury. Jupiter passed conjunction with the Sun last week, but it will be nearly a month before it will appear in our morning sky. Venus will rise at 3:28 AM in the east northeast, and by 5 AM will be seen low in the east, as the Morning Star. By then Saturn will be in the southeast, having risen nearly 2½ hours earlier.

Addendum

Mars and Regulus this evening with Mercury and the Moon in the western sky near 10:30 PM tonight, July 2, 2025. Mercury is seen here, but will probably be invisible from my latitude as being too low in the sky. The farther south one goes, at least to the equator, the higher Mercury will appear. Mercury’s evening appearances in summer and fall are poor ones for us mortherners. Created using Stellarium.

*The Moon tonight, J*uly 2, 2025. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

Venus and Saturn at 5 AM tomorrow morning, July 3rd, 2025. — *Venus and Saturn at 5 AM tomorrow morning, July 3rd, 2025, in the east-southeastern sky. Created using Stellarium.*

A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, July 2nd and 3rd, 2025. — This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, July 2nd and 3rd, 2025. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing, Uncategorized Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 06/25/2025 – Taking our weekly look at the naked-eye planets

June 25, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, will be seen to the upper left of the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion. Both are seen in the western sky by 10:30 PM at least. At that time Mercury might be spotted low on the west-northwestern Lake Michigan horizon. This is not a favorable appearance of Mercury. Jupiter passed conjunction with the Sun yesterday, but it will be nearly a month before it will appear in our morning sky. Venus will rise at 3:34 AM in the east northeast, and by 5 AM will be seen low in the east, as the Morning Star. By then Saturn will be in the southeast, having risen 2 hours earlier.

Addendum

Mars and Regulus this evening with Mercury and other bright stars in the western sky near 10:30 PM. — Mars and Regulus this evening with Mercury and other bright stars in the western sky near 10:30 PM, June 25, 2025. Mercury is seen here, but will probably be invisible from my latitude as being too low in the sky. The farther south one goes, at least to the equator, the higher Mercury will appear. Created using Stellarium.

*Venus and Saturn at 5 AM tomorrow morning, June 26th, 2025, in the east-southeastern sky. Created using Stellarium.*

Telescopic Saturn and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. On the evening of June 25, 2025, Mercury will have an apparent diameter of 7.0″ and be 54.9% illuminated. Mars will be 5.0″ in diamete. Both are too small to be shown here. My lower size limit is 10″. On the morning of the 26th, Saturn will be 17.6″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, should show up brighter than seen here., and extend to 40.9″. They are tilted 3.4° from being edge on. Venus’ apparent diameter will be 18.5″, and be 61.7% illuminated. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Venus

Ephemeris: 06/18/2025 – Three of the five naked-eye planets are visible now

June 18, 2025 bobmoler Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 1:55 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. The Red Planet Mars, will be seen just to the upper left of the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion. Both are seen in the western sky by 10:30 PM at least. They are currently about the same brightness, but Mars has an orange-reddish hue, while Regulus, is blue-white. They are a good color contrast, especially in binoculars which will increase their brightness. Even before 5 AM Venus will be seen very low in the east, as the Morning Star. The waning crescent Moon will be near Saturn, having passed it around midnight. By 5 AM Saturn will be to the right and below it. Venus will be visible until close to 5:40.