I pick out North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also applies to northern hemisphere mid-northern latitudes).

With each passing night as, the crescent slowly widens and it begins to appear against a progressively darker background, its entire globe can be glimpsed; the waxing crescent moon appearing as a thin arc of yellowish-white light enclosing a ghostly bluish-gray ball.

On Saturday 1 February, some of our BBC Weather Watchers reported these sightings of the crescent Moon and Venus close together. With the clearest skies in the south-east of the UK on Saturday, viewing conditions were ideal for planet spotting.

February’s night sky gives us the bright trio of Mars, Jupiter and Venus, according to NASA skywatch experts. “Venus blazes at its brightest for the year after sunset, then Mars and Jupiter will rule the night amid the menagerie of bright winter stars,” the U.S. space agency said in its February blog, which gives a summary of sky events.

I pick out North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the northern hemisphere).

Venus, Jupiter, and Mars dominate the sky. Catch your last views of Saturn as early in the month, the Moon passes in front of the Pleiades.