Mighty Jupiter continues to dominate the night sky while dazzling Saturn is also relatively easy to find. The next few weeks offer some of the best viewing opportunities for these two rewarding sky targets.

The visually brilliant Jupiter will sit directly underneath a waxing gibbous Moon tonight, March 14. The two object are very far apart in space, of course, but in our sky they'll be separated by less than 4 degrees at 8 p.m. EST (in fact, they will travel almost this close together across the sky, east to west, from dusk until they set, around 4 a.m.).

But there are three reasons why the views of Saturn and Jupiter may be even be better now and in the coming weeks.

First is the weather factor. During winter temperatures on many nights for most parts of the country were no doubt quite cold to downright frigid, making prospective observers extremely uncomfortable. Now with spring arriving March 21, there is the promise of some moderating temperatures.

The second reason is the placement of the planets. Weeks ago, you would have had to wait until late in the evening or the middle of the night for Saturn and Jupiter to climb high up into the sky. Now, that wait is over. Both planets are well situated for viewing as soon as it gets dark.

This is especially true in the case of Saturn, which arrived at east quadrature on March 13. Quadrature occurs when a planet, as seen from the Earth, forms a right angle with respect to the Sun. This means that when the Sun sets in the west, Saturn is reaching its highest point in the southern sky. It also means now is also a good time to see the shadow of the planet cast farthest to its eastern side, giving the planet and its rings a greater depth in appearance.

The third reason is that Saturn and Jupiter will be especially "showy" in the days ahead, especially during the first week of April when Jupiter is positioned very near to the beautiful Beehive Star Cluster, while Saturn tips its rings to the their maximum toward Earth.

Here are the details:

The largest planet in our solar system glares high toward the south at dusk during the evening hours. The brightest "star" in the sky after Venus, Jupiter invites inspection the moment you set up a telescope. It then descends toward the west for much of the rest of the night.

As seen from Earth, Jupiter is retrograding, or moving west through the dim stars of the faint zodiacal constellation of Cancer, the Crab. By the end of March it will lie less than a degree away from the famous Beehive Star Cluster, which appears as a swarm of stellar points in binoculars and should make for a pretty sight.

On April 3, Jupiter ends its retrograde (westward) motion among the stars and will begin moving slowly away from the Beehive and toward the east.

As we noted back in January, Jupiter has the largest apparent disk of any bright object in the sky after the Moon and the Sun. Its dark cloud belts and bright zones, with their subtle markings, resolve into a series of red, yellow, tan and brown shadings in most good-sized telescopes.

In Taurus, the Bull, Saturn is readily visible as a yellowish-white zero magnitude "star" high in the south-southwest sky at dusk. The planet is visible during the first half of the night. Even a small telescope will provide a wonderful view of Saturns beautiful ring system, now tilted practically to their maximum toward Earth.

In fact, on the evening of April 7, the same night that a fat crescent Moon will appear to ride well above Saturn, the maximum "Saturnicentric latitude of Earth" will finally be attained. Put simply, Saturns ring system will be open at their widest to Earth (27).

Such extremes generally come at approximately 15-year intervals, with the last such occasion in September 1988 and the next not coming until October 2017. Because of this extreme and fortuitous tilt, Saturns ring system is displayed broadly with chilling elegance all through the balance of March and on through April.

For the first time since 1988 youll be able to see Saturns outer ring, the A Ring, completely encircling the planets disk (at lesser tilts, a portion of even this outermost ring is obscured by the planet itself). The rings will appear to hide the north end of the planet, while sticking out a bit from behind the south end.

Right now the full southern side of the rings are facing Earth, but not for long. After this year the rings will slowly begin to pitch back toward an edge-on configuration, as seen from Earth. By the summer of 2009 the rings will be exceedingly difficult to see.