2 bright planets light up April evenings — here's where and when to look

Venus and Jupiter dominate April's evening sky, while Mercury, Mars and Saturn linger in the dawn — here's how and when to spot them all.

Mercury is at its greatest western elongation on April 3. But while it ranges as far out as 28 degrees from the sun as viewed from mid-northern latitudes, this is mostly directly off to the sun's right, placing the planet quite low above the horizon. This +0.3-magnitude planet rises less than an hour before sunrise and shortly after coming above the horizon might be located with binoculars about 10 degrees south of the due east point.

On the evening of April 18, soon after sunset, look low toward the west-northwest for a view of a slender 1½-day old crescent moon, just 4% illuminated. And situated about a half-dozen degrees to its upper left is the steady, dazzling light of Venus. On the evening of April 23, Venus makes its closest approach to the Pleiades star cluster, passing about 3½ degrees to their lower left, making for a lovely sight in binoculars.