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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through May 28th, 2020. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.

The brightest planet, Venus, still blazes above the west-northwest horizon at sunset, but as each evening passes, the planet appears lower and lower in the sky. The length of time that it can be seen after sunset shrinks from 80 minutes to 50 minutes between the 21st and the 28th. A few days after that, Venus will no longer be visible in the evening as it moves to the morning sky.

By 8:20 p.m. on the 21st, another bright star-like object appears just below Venus. This is the innermost planet, Mercury. Mercury has a reputation for being hard to find, but over the next week, the presence of brilliant Venus nearby should be an aid for quickly finding Mercury.

Mercury and Venus are closest together on the 21st, when they are only two degrees apart. After that, they separate; Venus continues its motion in the downward direction toward the sun, while Mercury, having just emerged from behind the sun, moves higher in the sky, so starting on the 22nd, Mercury is slightly higher than Venus. By the 28th, Mercury is 13 degrees above Venus.

The slender crescent of Venus is easy to see through binoculars and larger telescopes.

The crescent moon joins the evening sky on the 23rd when it marks the bottom point of a triangle that it forms with Venus and Mercury. On the following evening, the moon is to the upper left of, and nearly in line with, the two planets.

The eastward moving moon passes the bright stars Castor and Pollux of Gemini the Twins on the 26th, and on the 28th it approaches the brightest star in Leo the Lion, Regulus. Between the 23rd and 28th, the time of moonset advances from 9:04 p.m. to 11:08 p.m.

By 1:00 a.m., the brilliant planets Jupiter and Saturn form an eye-catching pair low in the southeast sky. Earth’s rotation makes them arc upward and to the right as the hours pass, so that by dawn, at about 4:30 a.m., they are high in the south. Jupiter is the brighter of the two objects, and it currently is the second brightest planet, after Venus.

A telescope is needed to observe the belted structure of Jupiter’s clouds, and the planet’s colorful oval storm, the Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot will face observers watching from the west coast on the mornings of the 23rd, 26th, and 28th.

Saturn’s rings, as nearly always, are a beautiful sight through nearly any telescope.

The orange planet Mars now appears brighter than Saturn. Mars is easy to see, low in the southeast by 3:00 a.m. By dawn, Mars is midway between Saturn and the eastern horizon.

Shortly before dawn on Friday, May 22nd, many of the 60 satellites of the SpaceX Starlink 6 mission, launched last April 22nd, will pass high in the sky over southern California. These satellites, part of a network now consisting of nearly 240 satellites, will appear at approximately 25 second intervals between 3:42 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. The earliest satellites in this group will first appear at a point already high in the northeast sky, just below the star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, where they emerge into sunlight and move straight down to the northeast horizon. All of the following satellites will descend to the northeast, but the point at which they first appear will shift farther west because of Earth’s rotation, so the last satellites will make their appearance in the northwest sky, not far from the bright star Arcturus in Boӧtes the Herdsman.

Despite the fact that this is the best week to see it from the northern hemisphere, reports indicate that Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN is difficult to find. It is located near the horizon in the northeast as dawn starts, in the constellation Perseus the Hero. If you want to try seeing it, start your search at 4:00 a.m., when it rises, but before 4:30 a.m., when the sky becomes too bright. You will need an unobstructed view of the northeast horizon. Comet SWAN looks like a hazy smudge of light in binoculars, and it moves from the center of Perseus the Hero, to the lower left of the figure, through the 28th. Because of its blue-green hue, it tends to stand out more in photographs than it does by eye, so, if you make the effort to see it, try shooting photos toward the stars of Perseus, and examine them for the triangular glow of the comet’s head.

Because of measures in place that are intended to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 Corona virus, Griffith Observatory and its grounds remain closed until further notice. Consequently, all public telescopes are closed, and all public events have been cancelled. Please check the Griffith Observatory homepage for current information and continued updates of the situation.

Follow The Sky Report, All Space Considered, and Griffith Observatory, on Twitter for updates on astronomy and space-related events.

From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at Anthony.Cook@lacity.org.