After spending most of the winter together, the two planets Mars and Venus are parting company. Take a look in the western sky tonight and you’ll notice that both Venus and Mars are farther apart.

Venus is the brightest planet in the western sky after sunset. Take another look and you’ll see the fainter red planet Mars a short distance away. In the nights ahead Venus will appear to get farther and farther away from the red planet. Their time together is over.

In the next four weeks, Venus will appear lower in the night sky. Mars will remain in our evening sky at least for the next four months, but it too is slipping.

There is plenty of opportunity to enjoy the stars in the nights ahead. The moon is out of the sky for a while. The bright constellation Orion is in the southern sky. The brightest star in the south is Sirius, with a blueish tint.

Wait until after 10 o’clock and the bright planet Jupiter rises in the east. Jupiter is bright, but not as bright as Venus, seen earlier in the evening.