Celebrations in honor of the the first person to traveled to space — cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who launched in the Vostok 1 for one 108-minute orbit around the Earth on April 12, 1961 — are an annual tradition. And they’re awesome. Especially so this year, when Yuri’s Night participants will mark the golden anniversary of Gagarin’s circle around the world.

Image of the crescent Moon and Pleiades star cluster by philliefan99. Once these pesky rainclouds clear out — they should by Wednesday — take a minute to enjoy a fantastic show at dusk. Venus and Mercury, the two planets closer to the Sun than Earth, are both visible about a half an hour after sunset right now. Sky and Telescope has a good visual, with Mercury trailing Venus to the lower right in the…