Catch Mother Nature’s New Year’s Space Show

Fireworks won’t be the only thing lighting up the sky this New Year’s Eve night. You can also catch a space show as some planets reach highly visible positions near the moon, if you know where to look.

The New Year’s space show starts right as the sun goes down today (Wednesday, December 31). Look toward the southwest right at sunset and you should see Venus shining brightly below the moon.

Moments later, Mercury and Jupiter will appear next to each other, right above where the sun was. They’ll only be visible for about an hour after the sunset.

Of course, once you catch the planets, you can get ready for the man-made celebrations. You can watch New Year’s 2009 live Webcasts here, from Times Square and other locations around the world.